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CHICAGO  SCHOOL  OF  CIVICS  AND  PHILANTHROPY 
DEPARTMENT  OF  SOCIAL  INVESTIGATION 

(Russell  Sage  Foundation) 


FINDING 

Employment  for  Children  who  Leave 
the  Grade  Schools  to  go  to  Work 


Report  to  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club,  The  Chicago  Association  of  Collegiate 
Alumnae  and  The  Woman's  City  Club 


PRICE,  TWENTY-FIVE  CENTS 


f 


CHICAGO  SCHOOL  OF  CIVICS  AND  PHILANTHROPY 
DEPARTMENT  OF  SOCIAL  INVESTIGATION 

(Russell  Sage  Foundation) 


FINDING 

Employment  for  Children  who  Leave 
the  Grade  Schools  to  go  to  Work 


Report  to  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club,  The  Chicago  Association  of  Collegiate 
Alumnae  and  The  Woman's  City  Club 


>     J  »       »    > 


PRICE,  TWENTY -FIVE  CENTS 


M*NZ    ENGRAVmG    COMPANY,   THE    H0LLI8TER    PBE9S,  CHICAGO 


Printed  December,  1911 


.»      •    V  •  •     • 


« •      •    « 

•.  •  •  •  .*  •  ;•  • '.  .*  "  •  • 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


1.  THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  WORKING-CHILD:    A  PLEA  FOR 

EMPLOYMENT  SUPERVISION  IN  CITY  SCHOOLS 5-18 

Sophonisba  P.  Breckinridge  and  Edith  Abbott,  Directors  of 
the  Department  of  Social  Investigation,  The  Chicago  School 
of  Civics  and  Philanthropy 

2.  PRELIMINARY    REPORT    ON    OPPORTUNITIES    OF    EM- 

PLOYMENT   IN    CHICAGO     OPEN    TO    GIRLS    UNDER 
SIXTEEN  19-^W 

Anne  S.  Davis,  Special  Investigator  for  the  Chicago  Woman's 
Club,  the  Chicago  Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnae,  and  the 
Woman's  City  Club 

3.  PUBLIC   CARE   OF   WORKING-CHILDREN    IN    ENGLAND 

AND  GERMANY:    SOME  NOTES  ON  JUVENILE  LABOUR 
EXCHANGES  BY  EDITH  ABBOTT 41^^8 

4.  TRADE  AND   TECHNICAL   CLASSES   FOR  GIRLS   IN   CHI- 

CAGO       49-52 

5.  SELECTED     BIBLIOGRAPHY     RELATING     TO     EMPLOY- 

MENT SUPERVISION 53-56 


304236 


1  1  1  1  >    I 


THE 

School  and  the  Working-Child 


A  PLEA  FOR  EMPLOYMENT  SUPERVISION 
IN  CITY  SCHOOLS 


SOPHONISBA  P.  BRECKINRIDGE  AND  EDITH  ABBOTT 

Directors,  Department  of  Social  Investigation 


While  it  is  generally  known  that  the  Illinois  law  requires  that  all 
children  between  the  ages  of  seven  and  fourteen  shall  attend  school 
unless  excused  on  the  various  grounds  enumerated  in  the  statute,  many- 
people  do  not  know  that  on  the  fourteenth  birthday  the  child  may 
demand  an  age  and  school  certificate  and  go  to  work,  subject  of  course 
to  the  limitations  of  the  Child  Labor  Law  upon  his  hours  and  time  of 
work  and  kind  of  employment,  and  subject  also  to  the  provision  of  the 
Compulsory  Education  Law  that,  until  he  is  sixteen,  he  must  be  either 
at  work  or  in  school.  Still  less,  perhaps,  do  people  know  the  conse- 
quence to  the  child  who  is  thus  deprived  of  further  schooling  on  the 
one  hand  and  made  to  assume  the  heavy  burden  of  responsibility  on 
the  other.  For  to  most  of  these  children  leaving  school  means  much 
more  than  a  loss  of  opportunity.  It  means  being  placed  in  the  way  of 
great  and  varied  temptations,  while  the  will  is  weak  and  the  mind  not 
yet  intelligent.  Work  is  not  always  easy  to  find,  and  desirable  work, 
which  offers  even  a  small  amount  of  training  and  awakens  ambition 
and  interest,  seems  hopelessly  scarce. 

Every  year,  thousands  of  children  in  Chicago  take  advantage  of 
the  privilege  which  the  law  gives  them  and  leave  school  on  the  very 
day  when  they  reach  the  age  of  fourteen  and  can  legally  obtain  their 
working-papers.  On  this  day  the  child  is  suddenly  released  from  the 
discipline  of  the  school  and  thrown  on  his  own  resources  to  find  a  job 
in  any  way  he  can  and  to  become  an  independent  wage-earner  making 
a  much-needed  contribution  to  the  family  income.  This  sudden  tran- 
sition from  school  to  work  must  necessarily  be  a  difficult  time  of 
readjustment  for  the  child,  and  the  question  of  the  kind  of  work  which 
is  undertaken  is  one  of  serious  importance.  The  "first  job"  or  the  first 
year  of  work  will  often  have  a  decisive  influence  on  his  whole  v/orking 
life  and  may  make  or  mar  his  character. 

There  are  many  important  questions  which  shoukl  be  considered 
when  a  child  leaves  school  to  go  to  work,  such  as  the  kind  of  occupa- 
tion to  which  he  is  best  adapted,  the  industry  which  holds  the  best 

5 


6  THE   SCHOOL   AND    THE    WORKING-CHILD 

promise  for  the  future,  how  to  find  the  employer  who  is  "good  to 
boys  and  girls"  and  is  willing  to  give  them  proper  training,  sympathetic 
oversight,  and  a  chance  for  promotion  in  the  shop  or  factory,  and, 
finally,  the  critical  question  of  how  to  find  the  vacant  job  which  most 
nearly  answers  all  of  these  demands.  At  present  the  child  faces  this 
problem  quite  alone  and  unaided,  with  no  broader  object  in  mind  than 
that  of  an  immediate  contribution  to  the  family  income.  His  parents 
may  be  zealous  for  his  welfare,  but  they  are  quite  unable  to  help  at  this 
crisis  in  his  life.  For  the  boys  and  girls  who  go  to  work  are  not  the 
children  of  intelligent  skilled  working-men.  Men  in  skilled  trades  do 
not  take  their  children  out  of  school  at  fourteen,  for  they  know  that  a 
boy  of  that  age  must  wait  two  years  before  he  can  be  apprenticed,  that 
the  girl  of  that  age  is  not  strong  enough  to  work  and  not  yet  able  to 
protect  herself,  and  that  the  years  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  are  waste- 
fully  spent  by  the  child  in  work.  These  boys  and  girls  who  go  to  work, 
then,  are  children  of  parents  who  are  either  very  poor  and  in  urgent 
need  of  the  small  wage  which  the  child  may  earn,  or  unintelligent  with 
reference  to  the  importance  of  further  education  and  therefore  not 
willing  to  sacrifice  their  standard  of  immediate  comfort  for  the  child's 
future ;  in  the  majority  of  cases,  they  are  immigrants,  frequently  unable 
even  to  speak  our  language,  almost  uniformly  ignorant  of  industrial 
conditions  and  quite  unable  to  advise  their  children  wisely  with  refer- 
ence to  the  beginning  of  their  working-lives. 

The  result  is  that  at  the  age  when  children  in  a  well-to-do  family 
are  still  treated  as  children  and  are  never  allowed  to  make  any  import- 
ant decision  about  their  future  careers,  the  boy  or  girl  in  a  poor  family 
is  turned  loose  to  find  work  alone.  It  is  obvious  that  these  chil- 
dren are  not  competent  to  distinguish  the  good  employer  from  the  bad 
or  the  occupation  with  a  future  from  the  blind-alley  employment  that 
leads  nowhere  and  leaves  them  stranded  at  the  age  of  seventeen  or 
eighteen,  not  merely  untrained  but  demoralized. 

At  present  there  is  no  organized  efifort  made  on  the  part  of  the 
community  to  protect  these  boys  and  girls,  who  are  leaving  the  schools 
every  week  and  starting  forth  alone,  timid  and  eager,  on  a  discouraging 
hunt  for  a  first  job ;  no  serious  efifort  is  being  made  to  prevent  the 
wastage  that  comes  from  the  child's  haphazard  choice  of  a  job.  The 
theory  has  been  that  the  responsibility  of  the  school  to  the  child  comes 
abruptly  to  an  end  when  he  obtains  his  working-papers.  Picture  the 
child  who  is  facing  the  problem  of  finding  work.  A  boy  will  usually 
trudge  through  the  business  or  factory  streets  looking  for  the  magic 
card  "Boy  Wanted"  in  the  window — in  any  window  without  regard  to 
the  character  of  the  work  or  of  the  employer;  or  he  follows  the  more 
demoralizing  habit  of  loafing  about  the  newspaper  offices  in  a  crowd 
of  idle  men  waiting  for  the  most  recent  "Want  Ads"  to  appear.  Small 
wonder  that  after  he  gets  work  he  finds  it  hard  to  "settle  down." 
The  young  girl  who  goes  forth  alone  to  hunt  a  job  may  find  much 
graver  perils  before  her.  It  is  only  necessary  to  recall  the  successful 
prosecution  in  1908  of  seventeen  men  and  three  women  who  had  built 
up  a  profitable  business  in  leading  astray  young  girls  in  search  of 
work  who  made  use  of  the  department  store  waiting-rooms  to  read 
advertisements  in  the  newspapers  and  to  rest  during  the  intervals 
between  unsuccessful  applications  for  "jobs." 

The  difficulty  in  finding  work  means  of  course  that  a  child  usually 
takes  the  first  job  that  is  offered  him  without  any  regard  to  the 


THE   SCHOOL   AND    THE    WORKING-CHILD  7 

industry,  occupation  or  employer,  without  any  regard  to  his  interest 
in  the  work  or  his  htness  for  it.  His  whole  future  may  be  decided  by 
the  merest  chance,  and  he  may  take  the  most  temporary  kind  of  job 
in  a  most  undesirable  place,  when  on  the  same  street  a  good  firm  offer- 
ing permanency  and  every  opportunity  of  advancement  may  have  been 
looking  for  just  such  a  boy  or  girl.  It  is,  of  course,  an  inevitable 
result  of  this  careless  and  accidental  hunt  for  "any  kind  of  jol)"  that 
temporary  jobs  are  frequently  taken  and  children  easily  get  into  casual 
habits,  and,  in  fact,  become  confirmed  "casual  laborers"  before  they 
are  sixteen,  shifting  from  job  to  job  with  an  interval  of  unemployment 
between  each. 

It  is  now  becoming  generally  recognized  that  the  result  of  this 
neglect  of  the  child  by  the  school  and  by  the  community  during  the^ 
critical  period  between  fourteen  and  sixteen,  when  the  schoolboy  or 
schoolgirl  suddenly  becomes  a  working  "man"  or  a  wage-earning 
"woman,"  has  far-reaching  social  consequences — a  small  army  of  boys 
and  girls  going  into  the  street-trades,  which  are  demoralizing,  and 
into  occupations  and  industries  which  profit  by  boy  or  girl  labor,  but 
have  no  responsibility  to  the  boy  and  girl  beyond  the  weekly  wage, 
no  care  for  their  health  or  training. 

Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the  fact  that,  although  the 
law  gives  the  child  his  working-papers  at  fourteen  and  does  not  pro- 
vide for  any  supervision  or  protection  during  the  critical  years  which 
follow,  still  the  law  does  not  entirely  take  its  hands  off.  It  regulates  the 
hours  of  labor  for  children  under  sixteen ;  it  at  the  present  time  ex- 
cludes them  from  certain  physical  dangerous  tracles  and  doubtless  will 
soon  exclude  them  from  morally  dangerous  trades  as  well.  Even  more 
important,  perhaps,  is  the  provision  of  the  Compulsory  Education  Law 
that  boys  and  girls  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  shall  not  be  abso- 
lutely idle  but  that  they  must  return  to  school  if  they  are  not  at  work. 

Unfortunately,  no  adequate  machinery  for  enforcing  this  provision 
of  the  law  exists,  and  the  problem  of  the  child  between  fourteen  and 
sixteen  is  still  a  serious  one.  The  Parental  School  is  restricted  to  the 
care  of  boys  under  fourteen  ;  there  is  no  similar  institution  for  older 
boys  and  no  provision  at  all  for  girls  who  refuse  to  go  to  school. 
The  last  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Compulsory  Education 
strongly  emphasizes  "the  necessity  for  better  provision  for  the  cor- 
rection and  care  of  children  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age 
who  are  beyond  parental  control  and  who  prefer  idleness  to  school 
attendance  or  employment.  The  only  recourse  under  present  condi- 
tions against  a  fourteen-year-old  truant  who  has  committed  no  other 
offense  than  truancy,  is  to  charge  him  with  incorrigible  or  delinquent 
conduct  and  ask  his  commitment  to  the  John  Worthy  School  or 
St.  Charles.  The  former  is  a  prison  school  where  the  worst  type  of 
delinquent  boys  is  sent.  St.  Charles  has  not  sufficient  capacity  to 
provide  for  urgent  delinquent  cases.  It  is  therefore  a  question  of 
consistency  for  one  state  law  to  provide  for  compulsory  attendance 
up  to  the  age  of  sixteen  while  another  state  law — the  Parental  School 
Law — provides  for  truants  only  between  seven  and  fourteen  years,  and 
bars  the  truant  between  fourteen  and  sixteen."  ^ 

Ever  since  the  year  1905,  the  Department  of  Compulsory  Educa- 
tion has  called  attention   in  every  succeeding  annual   report  to  the 
1  Chicago  Board  of  Education.     Fifty-Seventh  Annual  Report:     "Report  of 
Superintendent  of  Schools  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1911,"  p.  56. 


8  THE  SCHOOL  AND    THE   WORKING-CHILD 

necessity  for  better  means  of  protecting  and  disciplining  boys  between 
fourteen  and  sixteen,  not  merely  because  they  become  demoralized 
themselves,  but  because  they  encourage  smaller  boys  to  become 
truant  and  delinquent.-  As  a  result  of  a  recent  study  of  the  statistics 
of  the  Juvenile  Court  relating  to  delinquent  children,  it  appeared  that 
the  great  majority  of  boys  who  were  brought  to  court  as  delinquent 
were  boys  who  left  school  to  go  to  work  when  they  were  fourteen. 
[]  After  that  time  they  were  often  out  of  work  as  well  as  out  of  school 
and  were  given  special  opportunities  to  become  delinquent.  More  than 
half  of  all  the  delinquent  boys  brought  into  court  come  in  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  or  in  the  two  years  immediately  following  their  withdrawal 
from  school.  If  the  provision  in  the  state  law  which  requires  the 
compulsory  school  attendance  of  boys  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  sixteen  who  are  not  working  could  be  rigorously  enforced,  the 
number  of  delinquent  boys  of  these  ages  would  undoubtedly  decrease. 
There  is,  however,  a  method,  which  might  be  adopted,  of  meeting  this 
problem  which  would  be  preventive  rather  than  corrective,  and  that 
is  for  the  school  to  assist  these  boys  in  finding  the  right  kind  of  work. 
It  would  seem  to  be  wiser  for  educational  authorities  to  take  steps 
to  help  children  to  get  the  right  kind  of  work,  rather  than  to  punish 
them  for  being  idle. 

In  this  connection  we  should  like  to  quote  from  the  recent  report 
\  of  the  Department  of  Compulsory  Education.^  "The  social  waste  in 
I  a  boy's  life  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  often  determines  his  future 
I  career  and  citizenship,"  writes  the  Superintendent.  "Many  employers 
do  not  want  a  juvenile  employee  under  sixteen  years  of  age ;  they  can- 
not become  apprentices.  Principals  do  not  care  to  have  the  irregular 
attendance  of  the  fourteen-to-sixteen-year-old  pupil  who  alternates  be- 
tween school  and  work  so  much,  seeking  employment.  These  older 
boys  influence  younger  ones — and  herein  lies  a  great  handicap  to 
truant  officers.  It  accounts,  in  a  large  measure,  for  the  increase  in 
truancy  in  some  districts,  although  many  of  the  fourteen-to-sixteen- 
year-old  boys  are  repeatedly  taken  from  the  streets,  and  some  remain 
in  school.  There  is  no  central  juvenile  employment  agency,  and  con- 
ditions could  be  better  if  one  were  established,  to  expedite  the  em- 
plo^anent  of  boys  and  girls  as  soon  as  possible  after  they  secure  their 
age  and  school  certificates." 

It  is  evident  too  that  if  work  is  recognized  by  the  law  as  the  alter- 
native to  school,  it  should  be  on  the  ground  that  the  work  will  give 
the  child  the  needed  training  or  preparation  for  what  is  to  come  after. 
That  is,  the  implication  in  the  law  is  that  either  in  school  or  in  work 
will  be  found  the  preparation  for  that  later  period  in  the  child's 
life  in  which  the  law  wholly  ceases  to  exercise  control.  The  problem 
of  adequately  protecting  children  who  leave  school  to  go  to  work  has 

2  See  Chicago  Board  of  Education.  Fifty-First  Annual  Report,  1905,  in 
which  the  following  statement  appears  in  the  report  of  the  Superintendent  of 
Compulsory  Education:  "There  are  many  idle  boys  between  the  ages  of  four- 
teen and  sixteen  on  the  streets  of  Chicago Many  of  these  boys 

do  not  go  to  work  because  employers,  as  a  rule,  prefer  a  boy  who  has  attained 
the  age  of  sixteen  years  in  order  that  they  may  have  employes  whose  employ- 
ment and  hours  are  not  regulated  by  the  Child  Labor  Law.  These  idle  street 
boys,  over  compulsory  education  age,  frequently  encourage  smaller  boys  to  be- 
come truants  and  delinquents." 

3  Chicago  Board  of  Education.  Fifty-Seventh  Annual  Report:  "Report  of 
the  Superintendent  of  Schools  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1911,"  p.  56. 


THE   SCHOOL   AND    THE    WORKING-CHILD  9 

then  three  important  aspects:  (1)  the  question  of  what  opportunities 
for  employment  that  are  educational  and  disciplinary  instead  of  de- 
moralizing- are  open  to  children  of  fourteen  and  fifteen  ;  (2)  the  ques- 
tion of  devising  some  machinery  for  ascertaining  good  vacancies  and 
fitting  the  right  boy  or  girl  into  the  right  job;  (3)  the  development  of 
some  method  of  supervising  the  boy  or  girl  after  a  job  has  been  found 
in  order  to  ascertain  whether  the  job  proves  suitable  on  the  one  hand, 
and  to  see  that  the  child  is  supported  against  temjitation  to  change  his 
job  frequently  on  the  other.  In  the  solution  of  this  problem  we  have 
at  once  an  important  duty  of  the  school  and  a  unique  opportunity  to 
render  a  most  difficult  and  delicate  service  to  the  child,  to  the  family, 
and,  in  the  long  run,  to  the  community,  in  saving  the  health  and  char- 
acter of  the  working-child. 


EXPERIMENTAL  WORK  DURING  THE  YEAR  1910-1911 

In  the  autumn  of  1910,  this  Department  of  the  Chicago  School  of 
Civics  and  Philanthropy,  supported  by  a  grant  from  the  Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  undertook  a  study  of  truancy  in  Chicago.**  As  one  phase 
of  this  study  we  became  interested  in  the  problem  of  the  children  be- 
tween fourteen  and  sixteen.  In  Chicago  during  a  single  year  7,978 
boys  and  4,560  girls  under  sixteen  years  of  age  were  granted  working- 
certificates  ;  of  these  children  8,985  were  only  fourteen  years  of  age, 
and  1,557  had  not  yet  reached  the  fifth  grade. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  in  Illinois  these  children  are 
required  by  the  Compulsory  Education  Law  to  be  either  at  work  or 
in  school,  but  that  there  is  no  provision  for  helping  children  to  find 
work  and  no  institution  to  which  they  can  be  sent  if  they  refuse  to  re- 
turn to  school.  Attention  has  also  been  called  to  the  fact  that  the 
Parental  School,  an  admirable  institution  maintained  by  the  Board  of 
Education  for  truant  boys,"  cannot  legally  receive  any  boy  over  four- 
teen nor  retain  any  boy  already  committed  to  the  school  after  he 
reaches  the  legal  working-age.  Here,  however,  as  in  the  ordinary 
school,  nothing  is  done  to  help  the  boy  find  suitable  work  or  to  make 
the  transition  from  school  to  work  easy  for  the  child.  The  plight  of 
the  boy  discharged  from  the  institution  merely  because  he  is  fourteen 
and  therefore  a  legal  wage-earner  is  apparent.  Boys  are  sent  to  the 
Parental  School  only  when  they  are  in  special  need  of  the  training  and 
of  the  disciplinary  life  which  that  school  is  so  well  equipped  to  pro- 
vide. The  boy  so  released  when  he  has  no  "job"  in  sight  and  no  one 
at  home  able  or  interested  to  find  him  one,  is  in  grave  danger  of 
losing  all  that  the  school  may  have  done  for  him. 

These  Parental  School  boys  are,  therefore,  in  much  greater  need 
of  supervision  than  the  majority  of  children  who  leave  school  to 
go  to  work.  They  have  been  uncontrollable  at  school  and  they  come 
for  the  most  part  from  homes  that  are,  to  say  the  least,  unfavorable 

4  This  study  was  undertaken  as  part  of  the  Juvenile  Court  inquiry  on  which 
the  Department  had  been  engaged  for  several  years.  The  first  vohime  dealing 
with  the  results  of  this  inquiry,  The  Delinquent  Child  and  the  Home,  is  now  in 
press  and  will  shortly  be  issued  by  the  Charities  Publication  Committee  for  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation. 

^  It  may  be  well  to  call  attention  here  to  urgent  need  for  a  similar  institu- 
tion for  truant  girls,  or  girls  who  are  incorrigible  at  school. 


10  THE  SCHOOL  AND    THE   WORKING-CHILD 

to  their  right  development.  In  some  cases  they  come  from 
homes  in  which  the  father  drinks  or  in  which  the  mother  is  shiftless 
and  incompetent ;  in  a  few  cases  the  mother  herself  is  a  drinking- 
woman  or  worse ;  when  there  are  degraded  conditions  in  the  home 
the  degradation  is  accompanied  by  poverty ;  and  in  still  other  cases 
there  is  poverty  alone,  poverty  which  is  honest  and  respectable  but 
wliich  means  pressing  need  for  what  the  child  can  earn.  It  was  found, 
for  example,  in  a  study  of  truant  cases  last  year  that  out  of  579  boys 
who  were  brought  to  court  for  the  first  time  on  a  truancy  charge, 
157  belonged  to  families  which  had  at  some  time  been  on  the  records 
of  the  United  Charities.  It  is  obvious  that  to  return  to  these  homes 
children  released  from  all  effective  control  on  the  part  of  the  school 
authorities  and  unaided  by  any  sympathetic,  firm  and  intelligent  guid- 
ance, is  to  run  the  risk  of  undoing  all  that  has  been  gained  by  sending 
them  away.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  boy  can  be  persuaded  volun- 
tarily to  return  to  school,  or  if  he  can  be  found  the  right  job  and 
persuaded  to  stick  to  it,  if  misunderstandings  with  the  foreman  can  be 
explained  and  adjusted,  if  there  is  some  one  at  hand  to  give  him 
encouraging  and  sturdy  advice  when  he  wants  to  "chuck  the  job  and 
try  something  new"  or  "loaf  for  a  bit,"  the  succeeding  months  may 
continue  the  discipline  and  right  development  begun  in  the  Parental 
School. 

These  children,  then,  who  according  to  the  statute  must  be  re- 
leased on  their  fourteenth  birthday  from  the  Parental  School,  have 
again  after  their  return  home  the  alternative  under  the  law  of  return- 
ing to  school  or  of  finding  a  job.  To  undertake  to  advise  these  chil- 
dren with  regard  to  their  choice  of  work  and  to  assist  them  in  finding 
jobs  if  they  were  unwilling  to  return  to  school  opened  an  interesting 
opportunity  to  combine  investigational  with  practical  work.  To  at- 
tempt to  understand  the  problem  of  employment  as  they  faced  it 
seemed  to  be  not  only  germane  to  our  truancy  inquiry  but  likely  to 
be  of  some  immediate  practical  value.  We  attempted  to  serve,  in  short, 
as  a  sort  of  employment  agency  for  these  boys,  believing  this  to  be  one 
of  the  best  methods  of  understanding  the  questions  connected  with 
their  finding  work,  the  kind  of  positions  open  to  them,  the  ease  or  diffi- 
culty of  finding  "vacant  jobs,"  their  treatment  by  the  employer  and 
their  conduct  in  work  after  they  were  placed. 

In  other  words  to  get  directly  from  and  with  them  the  employ- 
ment experience  of  these  boys  dismissed  from  the  Parental  School 
solely  because  of  their  age  seemed  relevant  to  an  inquiry  into  the 
adequacy  of  the  Compulsory  Education  Law,  the  effectiveness  of  the 
court  as  a  device  for  strengthening  the  school,  and  the  reasonableness 
of  accepting  "lawful  employment"  as  a  substitute  for  schooling  during 
these  two  important  years  of  the  child's  life. 

To  try  to  assist  boys  or  girls  in  finding  work  is  a  task  not  to  be 
lightly  undertaken.  It  means  not  only  a  thoroughgoing  investigation 
into  opportunities  of  employment  open  to  children  under  sixteen  but 
a  careful  study  of  the  particular  child.  On  the  one  hand,  it  means 
interviews  with  employers  and  foremen,  and  on  the  other,  interviews 
with  the  child  before  he  leaves  school,  with  his  teachers  and  with 
parents  in  the  home — interviews  which  give  as  complete  information 
as  can  be  gained  of  what  the  boy  v/ants  to  do  and  thinks  he  can  do, 
of  what  his  teachers  believe  him  to  be  fitted  for  physically  and  men- 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  WORKING-CHILD  11 

tally,  and  most  important  of  all,  the  judgment  of  his  parents,  their 
hopes  and  fears  if  they  will  share  them,  and  such  light  as  his  home 
circumstances  and  relationships  throw  on  the  possibilities  of  his  work- 
ing career.     This  is,  of  course,  only  half  the  battle.     There  is  also 
the  selection  from  among  all  of  the  available  jobs  that  can  be  found, 
the  one  to  which  the  boy  seems  best  adapted,  and  then  frequently  the 
difficult  task  of  persuading  the  boy  to  give  up  being  a  messenger  boy 
or  some  other  wasteful   occupation  on  which  he  may  have  set  his 
heart,  convincing  the  parents  perhaps  to  take  a  lower  wage  at  the 
start  in  a  job  which  is  going  to  mean  learning  as  well  as  earning,  and, 
finally,  constant  communication  with  the  boy  after  he  is  placed.     For 
watching  the  child  after  a  job  has  been  found  is  as  important  as  finding 
the  job.     The  temptation  to  leave  one  employer  and  "try  another" 
is  in  the  air.    Boys  give  up  their  jobs  on  the  most  trivial  pretexts  and 
often  without  telling  the  employer  they  intend  to  leave.     One  boy 
left  a  good  job  with  a  good  firm  and  became  a  telegraph  messenger 
because  he  did  not  like  the  shape  of  the  packages  he  was  asked  to 
carry ;  a  Bohemian  boy  left  a  shop  where  he  was  being  taught  a  trade, 
and  went  into  a  large  factory  which  offered  only  unskilled  work  for 
either  men  or  boys  because  he  resented  having  a  Polish  boy  in  the 
shop,  and  said  it  was  nicer  when  he  was  "the  only  boy."    Other  boys 
leave  because  they  like  a  change  and  can  usually  "pick  up  some  kind  of 
work."    In  such  cases  it  is  often  possible  to  persuade  the  employer  to 
give  the  boy  another  trial,  to  show  the  boy  how  much  he  may  gain 
by  working  steadily  for  the  same  firm,  and  to  explain  to  the  parents  the 
dangers  of  casual  habits.     The  task  is  not  a  simple  task.     It  involves 
often  many  interviews,  much  firm  but  gentle  dealing  with  boy  and 
parents  and  close  co-operation  with  employer;  but  it  also  means  a 
knowledge    of   the    chaos    by    which    fourteen-year-old    children    are 
allowed  to  enter  the  wage-earning  market  unguarded  and  unguided, 
which  is  worth  all  it  costs.    The  effort  to  find  good  places  for  boys  or 
girls  w^ho  leave  school  to  go  to  work  shows  as  nothing  but  direct 
practical  experience  can  show,  the  great  dearth  of  educational  ojidisci- 
plinary  work  for  children  under  sixteem    It  shows  m  the  most  unmis- 
takable terms  that  the  serious  study  of  this  question  is  the  duty  of 
the  schools  unless  they  are  willing  to  sit  by  and  take  no  notice  as  the 
child  goes  forth  to  unlearn  what  the  school  has  taught. 

It  was  realized,  of  course,  that  the  same  problem  presented  itself 
to  the  fourteen-year-old  girls  who  are  leaving  school  to  go  to  work 
and  that  the  same  method  would  be  of  even  greater  value  in  the  case 
of  girls  than  of  boys;  because,  few  as  are  the  opportunities  of  an 
industrially  promising  kind  for  boys,  they  are  fewer  for  girls,  since 
most  employments  for  women  today  are  in  fact  "blind-alley"  or  "dead 
end"  employments.  Moreover  the  problem  of  school  attendance  for 
girls  is  one  to  which  much  less  attention  has  been  given.  The  number 
of  girls  whose  attendance  is  so  irregular  or  whose  conduct  so  bad  as  to 
call  for  action  on  the  part  of  the  Compulsory  Education  Department 
is  almost  negligible ;  and  these  are  not  brought  into  the  Juvenile  Court. 
There  is  no  Parental  School  for  girls.  We  therefore  had  no  opportun- 
ity to  undertake  in  connection  with  our  Juvenile  Court  inquiry  the 
same  investigational  experiment  for  girls  which  we  undertook  for 
the  Parental  School  boys.  But  by  the  intelligent  co-operation  of 
three  women's  organizations,  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club,  the  Chi- 


12  THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  WORKING-CHILD 

cago  Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnge,  and  the  Woman's  City  Club, 
this  work  was  made  possible.  Through  their  joint  gift  we  were 
enabled  to  obtain  for  four  months  the  service  of  a  special  investigator 
who  was  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  work.  Miss  Davis  had  been  engaged 
with  the  Department  in  an  earlier  study  of  the  delinquent  wards  of  the 
court,  and  had  been  especially  skillful  and  successful  in  obtaining  data 
concerning  delinquent  girls  and  in  understanding  the  needs  and  diffi- 
culties of  those  girls.  She  had  more  recently  been  for  two  years  in  the 
Illinois  Children's  Home  and  Aid  Society,  in  charge  of  the  work  for 
homeless  girls,  and  she  came  directly  from  that  position  to  this 
undertaking.  She  seemed  to  have  the  training,  sympathy,  experi- 
ence, and  resourcefulness  needed  in  this  work ;  and  the  results  of  her 
brief  inquiry  will,  we  believe,  justify  the  confidence  placed  in  the 
Department  by  the  three  co-operating  organizations  and  in  turn  the 
confidence  of  the  Department  in  her. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  school  year,  as  the  knowledge  of  trade  con- 
ditions accumulated  and  the  connection  with  good  employers  became 
gradually  established,  we  were  able  to  take  care  of  a  very  considerable 
number  of  children  sent  to  us  by  the  settlements  who  knew  of  our 
experimental  work,  and  by  the  United  Charities  and  some  other  organ- 
izations. In  particular,  especially  handicapped  children  were  sent  to 
us,  a  one-armed  girl,  a  lame  boy,  a  deaf  and  dumb  girl,  and  undersized 
or  delicate  children  who  were  in  work  that  was  too  hard  for  them 
or  unsuitable  for  other  reasons. 

A  few  illustrations  will  perhaps  be  of  interest  in  showing  that 
the  "better  job"  did  not  always  mean  lower  wages,  though  whenever 
possible  it  meant  a  chance  to  learn  and  a  chance  of  promotion  as  a 
result  of  steady,  faithful  work : 

Emma  C ,  a  girl  of  fifteen,  who  had   finished  the   seventh  grade,  had 

been  employed  in  a  department  store  as  "inspector"  earning  $2.50  a  week.  She 
was  a  capable,  promising  girl;  and  employment  was  found  for  her  in  a  braiding 
and  embroidery  shop  where  she  is  learning  hand  and  machine  embroidering, 
and  where  she  earns  $5  a  week.  Her  sister,  a  bright  girl  of  sixteen  and  an 
eighth-grade  graduate,  who  had  been  working  in  a  department  store  for  nine 
months  as  "wrapper"  and  earning  $4.50  a  week,  was  placed  in  an  office  position 
where  she  is  earning  $6  a  week. 

Lena  S ,  a  little  girl  of  fourteen,  who  had  finished  the  sixth  grade  and 

who  knew  how  to  sew,  had  found  a  job  for  herself  in  a  tailor  shop  "finishing 
pants"  at  $2.50  a  week.  She  was  placed  in  a  Michigan  Avenue  shop  where  good 
needlewomen  are  in  demand,  at  an  initial  wage  of  $4  a  week. 

Elizabeth    B ,  a  bright  little  girl  of  fourteen,  had  "done  well"  in  the 

seventh  grade  and  should  have  gone  on  to  the  eighth,  but  her  father  was  an 
epileptic  and  she  was  the  eldest  of  eight  children.  On  the  day  she  was  fourteen 
therefore  she  became  the  "sole  support  of  the  family."  She  was  sent  to  us  by 
the  United  Charities  from  a  place  where  she  had  been  earning  $3.50  a  week  fold- 
ing circulars  and  she  was  placed  in  the  filing  department  of  a  large  commercial 
agency  where  she  was  paid  in  the  beginning  $4  a  week.  In  six  months  shewas 
earning  $5  a  week,  and  the  forewoman  reports  that  she  is  learning  typewriting 
in  her  "spare  time"  and  is  going  to  make  a  good  office  assistant. 

Steve  H ,  who  was  sent  by  the  United  Charities,  was  an  eighth-grade 

graduate  and  another  "sole  support"  of  a  family  of  eight,  in  this  case  deserted  by 
the  father.  The  boy  was  sixteen  years  old,  extremely  small  for  his  age  and  was 
"carrying  boards"  in  a  box  factory,  earning  $6  a  week.  He  was  a  very  eager, 
ambitious  boy  and  as  he  was  sixteen  years  old  it  was  not  difficult  to  find  a 
chance  for  him  as  a  compositor's  apprentice  with  a  good  printing  firm.  His 
initial  wages  in  this  case  were  only  $4,  but  it  was  not  difficult  to  raise  a  small 
fund  to  pay  the  fainily  the  difference  between  his  apprenticeship  wage  and  his 
box  factory  wage  until  he  had  been  "raised."    He  has  been  in  the  shop  nearly  a 


THE  SCHOOL   AND    THE   WORKING-CHILD  13 

year  now,  his  wages  have  been  raised  three  times,  he  enjoys  his  work  and  his 
foreman   speaks  well  of  him. 

Albert  Z ,  who  is  fifteen  and  had  finished  sixth  grade,  worked  for  a  year 

in  a  box  factory  "carrying  boards,"  and  earned  $4  a  week.  Fortunately  he  was 
laid  off  when  the  work  became  slack.  Employment  was  found  for  him  in  a 
priiiting  shop  where  he  has  an  opportunity  to  learn  the  trade  and  where  his 
initial  wage  was  $4.50  a  week. 

James  R -,  a  bright  Bohemian  boy  of  fifteen,  who  had  finished  the  seventh 

grade,  worked  in  a  department  store  nearly  two  years  as  messenger  boy.  He 
had  begun  at  $4  a  week,  and  his  wages  had  not  been  raised  during  that  time. 
He  left  because  he  "wanted  to  learn  something."  He  was  placed  in  a  printing 
shop  where  he  is  learning  the  trade,  and  where  his  initial  wage  was  $4.50 
a  week. 

Salvatcre,  an  Italian  boy  of  fourteen,  the  "sole  support"  of  a  fatherless 
fainily  of  six,  was  sent  to  us  because  he  was  "working  too  hard"  and  often  "fell 
asleep  at  his  work."  He  was  working  in  a  department  store  as  a  "cash  boy" 
earning  $2.50  a  week  and  earning  an  extra  $2  by  working  on  a  milk  wagon  from 
.three  to  six  in  the  morning.  It  was  possible  to  place  him  with  an  engraving 
company  where  the  prospects  to  learn  the  trade  were  good  and  where  his 
wages  were  $4.50  a  week  at  the  start. 

In  the  month  of  Jnne  v/e  undertook  to  interview  and  to  place  all 
of  the  children  who  were  planning  to  go  to  work  at  the  end  of  the 
school  year  in  the  Washburne  School,  one  of  the  largest  schools  on 
the  West  Side.  Office  hours  were  kept  in  a  neighboring  settlement, 
the  Henry  Booth  House,  w^hich  generously  offered  space,  and  the  prin- 
cipal, Air.  Thompson,  was  glad  to  co-operate  by  sending  the  children 
to  us  and  by  giving  his  personal  advice.  Besides  interviewing  the 
children,  the  homes  were  all  visited,  and  when  the  parents  seemed  able 
to  keep  the  child  in  school  longer,  they  were  strongly  urged  to  do  so. 

By  way  of  summary  a  few  brief  tables  are  presented  to  show  the 
practical  results  of  this  very  humble  attempt  of  the  Department  to 
serve  as  an  informal  employment  agency  for  these  boys  and  girls. 
During  the  year  254  children,  80  girls  and  174  boys  were  inter\newed.^ 
Of  the  boys  50  were  still  in  the  Parental  School  but  about  to  be  dis- 
charged wdien  interview-ed.  The  following  tables  summarize  "the 
actual  work  done. 

WORK     FOR     BOYS     WHO     WERE     INTERVIEWED 
OCT.  1,1910,  TO  OCT.  1,  1911 

Number  of  boys  placed 59 

Number  who  secured  work  themselves  or  through  parents 

or  friends    29 

Number  returned   to    school 43 

Number  for  whom  nothing  could  be  done 6 

Number  who  moved  away  and  were  lost 3 

Number  now  waiting  for  positions 34 

Total  number  of  boys  interviewed 174 

The  ages  of  these  boys  were  as  follows: 

Age  Number  of  boys 

14  3'ears 105 

15  years 31 

16  years 18 

over  16  years 20 

Total 174 

^  Miss  Davis  was  assisted  in  this  work  by  Miss  Edith  Foster.  Further 
assistance  in  the  preparation  of  the  report  has  been  given  by  Miss  Grace  P. 
Norton  and  Miss  Maud  E.  Lavery. 


14  THE  SCHOOL  AND    THE   WORKING-CHILD 

LIST  OF  INDUSTRIES  OR  OCCUPATIONS  IN  WHICH 
59  BOYS  WERE  PLACED 

Commercial  engraving 14 

Printing 13 

Bookbinding  6 

Metal  trades 9 

Electrical  work 3 

Commercial  lithography 2 

Jewelry  work  or  manufacturing 1 

Box  factory. 2 

Wood-working   1 

Farm  work 4 

Office-work    3 

Clipping  bureau 1 


Total 59 

WORK     FOR     GIRLS     WHO     WERE     INTERVIEWED 
OCT.  1,  1910,  TO  OCT.  1,  1911 

Number  of  girls  placed 49 

Number  who  secured  work  themselves  or  through  parents 

or  friends 4 

Number  returned  to  school 7 

Number  for  whom  nothing  could  be  done 5 

Number  now  waiting  for  positions 15 

Total  number  of  girls  interviewed 80 

The  ages  of  these  girls  were  as  follows: 

Age  Number  of  Girls 

14  years 23 

15  years 21 

16  years 23 

over  16  years 13 

Total 80 

LIST  OF  INDUSTRIES  OR  OCCUPATIONS  IN  WHICH 
49  GIRLS  WERE  PLACED 

Sewing  trades 5 

Engraving    9 

Bookbinding 18 

Office-work    10 

Millinery  2 

Weaving  3 

Sample-work   2 

Total 49 

It  should,  perhaps,  be  pointed  out  that  we  have  never  been  willing 
to  assume  the  responsibility  of  placing  girls  in  offices  where  only  one 
or  two  girls  were  employed.  We  have  used  large  commercial  houses 
where  there  were  a  large  number  of  girls  where  the  dangers  of  iso- 
lated employment  were  avoided  and  where  there  was  at  the  same  time 
greater  opportunity  for  a  bright  girl  to  "work  up." 

In  connection  with  the  problem  of  girl  employment  which  has 
been  of  special  interest  to  the  members  of  the  organizations  which 
provided  for  the  appointment  of  Miss  Davis  and  the  special  investiga- 
tion into  girls'  trades,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  in  addition  to  the 
information   obtained   and   the   experience   gained   there   have   been 


THE   SCHOOL   AND    THE    WORKING-CHILD  IS 

results  of  a  definitely  practical  kind;  first,  the  data  gathered  by  Miss 
Davis  were  placed  at  the  service  of  Miss  Wells,  principal  of  the  new 
Lucy  L.  Flower  Technical  High  School,  so  that  various  questions 
connected  with  the  curriculum  of  that  school  could  be  determined 
with  reference  to  trade  opportunities  for  girls ;  and  second,  at  the 
request  of  Mrs.  Young,  the  superintendent  of  schools,  Miss  Davis 
has  been  authorized  by  the  School  Management  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Education  to  hold  office  hours  in  the  school  building  in 
order  to  advise  the  girls,  who  have  entered  upon  a  course  of  technical 
training  there,  with  reference  to  their  more  intelligent  and  deliberate 
selection  of  a  trade  and  their  more  advantageous  placing  at  the  end 
of  their  course. 

The  results  of  the  investigation  which  Miss  Davis  has  carried  on 
are  presented  here  in  a  separate  report.  It  is  hoped  that  the  informa- 
tion which  is  published  will  be  valuable  in  many  practical  ways. 
Details  given  regarding  wages,  hours,  possibilities  of  training  and 
prospects  of  advancement  should  prove  useful  not  only  to  teachers  but 
to  the  directors  of  girls'  clubs  in  settlements,  to  district  visitors  in  the 
offices  of  the  United  Charities,  and  to  other  persons  who  come  in  close 
contact  with  girls  whose  home  conditions  force  them  to  leave  school 
early  and  go  to  work.  Information  is  also  given  as  to  shop  conditions, 
the  kind  of  girls  who  go  into  the  trade,  their  nationality  and  age  and 
such  practical  details  as  could  be  obtained. 

Some  word  should  perhaps  be  said  with  regard  to  the  limited  scope 
of  Miss  Davis's  report.  It  is  in  every  respect  very  incomplete  ;  it  covers 
only  a  small  number  of  trades,  and  in  most  cases  the  reports  for  these 
trades  are  based  on  a  relatively  small  number  of  interviews.  A  com- 
plete report  on  the  opportunities  of  employment  open  to  girls  would 
mean  an  investigation  into  all  trades  in  which  women  are  employed. 
The  report  which  Miss  Davis  submits  represents  the  work  of  a  single 
investigator  for  four  months  only.  If  it  is  possible  to  continue  her 
work,  we  look  forward  to  the  publication  of  a  more  complete  report 
at  a  later  date.  It  seemed  worth  while  however  to  publish  a  prelim- 
inary report  in  order  that  such  information  as  had  been  gained  might 
be  of  immediate  service.  It  should  be  pointed  out  too  that  further 
investigation  will  make  possible  not  only  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  trades  for  which  information  is  available  but  more  complete  and 
detailed  reports  of  the  trades  which  have  already  been  covered  in  this 
preliminary  investigation. 

A  word  should  perhaps  be  said  with  regard  to  the  basis  on  which 
the  trades  included  in  this  report  were  selected.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  this  investigation  went  hand  in  hand  with  a  search  for  actual 
places  for  girls  who  wanted  work.  Since  we  could  not  cover  the 
entire  field,  we  started  with  trades  which  seemed  to  promise  fairly 
good  openings,  trades  which  we  had  reason  to  believe  offered  some 
skilled  work  and  opportunities  of  advancement.  In  general,  we  omitted 
the  large  factory  industries,  such  as  box  or  candy  making,  where  girls 
easily  found  work  for  themselves  and  where  the  work  for  girls  seemed 
to  be  largely  unskilled.  Some  trades  were  selected  because  of  a 
definite  application  from  a  girl  who  wanted  that  special  kind  of  work. 
For  example,  when  a  girl  who  wanted  to  learn  hairdressing  was  sent 
to  us,  we  found  it  necessary  in  trying  to  find  a  shop  where  we  could 
place  her,  to  visit  thirty-eight  different  hairdressing  establishments. 

We  have,  as  the  report  shows,  interviewed  80  girls,  44  of  whom 


16  THE  SCHOOL  AND    THE    WORKING-CHILD 

were  under  sixteen  years  of  age.  The  question  that  we  had  to  face 
was  what  v/as  the  best  that  could  be  done  for  the  girl,  considering  her 
school  grade,  her  health,  and  her  general  ability.  In  many  cases — 
one  might  almost  say  the  majority  of  cases — the  girls  under  sixteen 
seemed  hopelessly  unfitted  for  any  good  place.  They  needed  to  be 
taught  and  trained,  and  yet  we  were  asking  employers  to  pay  for  their 
labor.  At  the  time  this  investigation  was  made,  there  were  no  day  trade 
classes  in  Chicago  for  girls  of  this  sort.  In  order  to  find  out  what 
the  possible  value  of  a  day  trade  school  might  be,  the  question  was 
definitely  put  to  each  employer  or  employer's  representative  who  was 
interviewed,  "How  far  would  a  trade  school  be  of  value  in  the  industry 
you  represent?"  We  have  published  the  answers  to  this  question  in 
some  detail  because  there  is  sure  to  be  in  the  near  future  a  larger  pro- 
vision in  the  way  of  day  trade  classes  for  girls,  and  any  information 
relating  to  the  subject  will  be  useful.  The  opening  of  the  new  Lucy 
L.  Flower  Technical  High  School  will  undoubtedly  serve  as  a  pioneer 
and  guide  to  those  interested  in  industrial  training  for  girls.  Hull 
House  is  about  to  ofifer  a  day  class  in  trade  dressmaking  which  will 
be  open  to  girls  who  are  too  ill  equipped  to  enter  the  Technical  High 
School.  It  is  for  girls  of  this  sort  that  a  special  appeal  must  be  made — 
girls  who  have  left  school  from  the  lower  grades,  who  are  not  fit  to 
go  to  work,  but  whose  parents  need  to  utilize  their  slight  wage-earning 
capacity  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  While  the  parents  of  such 
girls  are  unwilling  to  let  them  go  back  to  school  unless  they  are  given 
some  definite  preparation  for  work,  permission  could  often  be  obtained 
for  them  to  attend  a  day  trade  class  which  would  give  in  six  months 
a  definitely  better  chance  of  entering  a  trade  and  of  earning  more 
money  than  they  would  otherwise  have.  In  large  settlements  where 
the  girls  would  also  have  the  benefit  of  day  classes  in  cooking,  gym- 
nastics or  dancing,  which  would  give  them  discipline  and  training  of 
another  sort,  the  girl  would  undoubtedly  have  a  much  better  chance 
in  the  industrial  world. 

A  study  of  Miss  Davis's  report  shows  that  even  in  the  best  trades 
there  is  very  little  educational  work  for  girls  under  sixteen.  Employers 
do  not  like  to  be  bothered  with  an  arrangement  which  means  having 
part  of  the  force  on  a  different  time-shift.  The  thorough  study  of  this 
\  question  will,  we  believe,  demonstrate  the  fact  that  machinery  is 
taking  the  place  of  the  unskilled  work  of  children  in  modern  indus- 
trial and  business  organization,  and  that  it  will  be  much  better  for 
^  industry  in  the  long  run  if  children  spend  the  years  between  fourteen 
I  and  sixteen  in  definite  preparation  for  their  industrial  life.  If  there 
is  so  little  work  that  is  good  for  them  to  do,  is  it  not  the  duty  of  the 
community  to  face  the  fact  and  make  some  provision  for  these  two 
years  that  are  being  wasted  in  the  lives  of  thousands  of  children 
v/ho  are  every  year  going  into  unprofitable  work?  This  is  not  the 
place  to  discuss  the  questions  connected  with  trade  or  industrial 
training  for  girls.  It  m.ay  be  worth  while,  however,  since  it  is  so 
closely  connected  with  questions  before  us  here  in  Chicago  to  quote 
from  a  very  remarkable  report  of  the  Education  Committee  of  the 
London  County  Council  submitting  some  reports  on  Women's  Trades 
compiled  by  the  late  Mrs.  Oakeshott  when  she  was  inspector  of 
Vv^omen's  trade  and  technical  classes  for  the  London  County  Council. 
In  considering  opportunities  which  a  girl  had  of  learning  a  trade  in 


\ 


THE   SCHOOL   AND    THE    WORKING-CHILD  17 

the  workroom,  the  need  of  trade  classes  for  girls  became  apparent. 
Entirely  apart  from  the  fact  that  it  was  difficult  to  find  suitable  appren- 
ticeships for  girls,  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  trade  school  had  certain 
definite  advantages. 

"The  Trade  School,"  Mrs.  Oakeshott  explained,  "aims  at  making 
a  worker  of  a  kind  such  as  the  workroom  rarely  if  ever  can  make.  By 
means  of  its  carefully  selected  trade  teacher  and  Advisory  Committee 
of  Experts,  it  gives  the  child  a  thorough  all-round  rudimentary  knov.d- 
edge  of  the  industry  she  is  to  enter.  That  is  the  basis  of  the  Trade 
School.  And  if  this  were  all,  a  carefully  arranged  apprenticeship 
might  be  as  good.  The  Trade  School  has  other  objects  in  viev/.  The 
girl  who  enters  such  a  school  spends  two  years  more  in  all  the  whole- 
some influences  of  school  life.  The  child  of  14  is  not  at  once  placed 
in  a  workroom  wdiere  hours  of  work  are  from  8:30  a.  m.  to  7:30  p.  m. 
She  spends  these  two  years  gaining  strength  morally  and  physically 
while  her  industrial  training  is  secured.  The  whole  spirit  of  the  school 
is  intended  to  encourage  the  esprit  de  corps  which  is  lacking  in  women 
eng-aQcd  in  industrial  work.  General  education  is  continued  and  the 
subjects  chosen  are  those  which  are  calculated  to  quicken  the  intelli- 
gence and  interest  of  the  girl  in  the  active  life  she  is  to  enter.  Artistic 
training  in  relation  to  each  trade  is  given,  and  the  young  worker  has 
an  opportunity  of  experimenting,  planning  and  trying  to  produce  orig- 
inal work.  In  the  Trade  School  it  does  not  matter  if  the  material  is 
spoiled  provided  a  lesson  has  been  learned.  Lastly,  it  gives  a  hint 
that  when  the  drudgery  has  been  mastered  there  is  responsible  work 
to  come.  And  this  is  where  workroom  training  often  deadens  keenness 
and  interest.  It  does  not  exist  to  teach,  it  exists  to  get  work  turned 
out  as  quickly  and  as  cheaply  as  possible.  Therefore  the  worker  is 
often  kept  to  the  one  process  that  she  can  perform  quickly  and  well, 
thereby  originality  and  interest  are  frequently  killed.'' 

Other  countries  are  considering  this  problem  with  greater  seri- 
ousness ;  and  trade  and  technical  schools,  continuation  schools,  juvenile 
labor  exchanges,  juvenile  advisory  committees,  apprenticeship  and 
skilled  employment  committees  have  been  successfully  organized.  In 
order  that  the  opportunity  before  us  in  Chicago  may  be  more  evident, 
a  report  upon  the  experiments  now  under  way  in  Germany  and  Eng- 
land is  included  in  this  report. 

In  conclusion  we  may  perhaps  repeat  that  the  fourteen-  or  fifteen- 
year-old  child  is  very  helpless  and  ill  equipped  to  enter  alone  and 
unguarded  upon  her  wage-earning  life ;  the  parent  is  unable  to  advise  ; 
or  guide;  the  private  employment  ofifice  is  a  wholly  unsuitable 
agency;  and  up  to  the  p'resent  the  school  has  been  inactive.  This 
rneans  that  there  is  a  rich  opportunity  for  constructive  work  and 
a  clear  field  of  service.  We  feel  ourselves  most  fortunate  in  having 
been  allowed  to  suggest,  through  this  investigation,  the  great  need  of 
undertaking  the  delicate  task  of  employment  supervision ;  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  proper  function  of  the  school ;  and  the  method  which  we  believe 
to  be  the  right  method,  involving  as  it  does  close  co-operation  with  the 
parents,  the  employers  and  the  other  agencies  which  have  been  con-, I 
cerned  in  the  problems  of  the  individual  family,  and  based  on  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  wage-earning  opportunities  and  industrial  possi- 
bilities for  children  of  this  group. 


PRELIMINARY  REPORT 

ON  THE 

OPPORTUNITIES  OF  EMPLOYMENT  IN  CHICAGO 
OPEN  TO  GIRLS  UNDER  SIXTEEN 


ANNE  S.  DAVIS 


LIST   OF  TRADES 

Sewing  Trades:  Dressmaking;  Millinery;  Lingerie,  Women's  Waists  and 
Dresses;  Braiding  and  Embroidering;  Corset-making;  Tie-making;  Cap- 
making;  Suspender-making;  Glove-making. 

Boot  and  Shoe  Industry. 

Artificial  Flower-making. 

Bookbinding. 

Engraving. 

Photography. 

Stenography,  Typewriting  and  General  Office-work. 

Telephone  Operating. 

Laundries. 

Dyeing  and  Cleaning. 

Hairdressing  and  Hairmaking. 


19 


OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT  21 


THE  SEWING  TRADES 

I.    DRESSMAKING 

Dressmaking  is  perhaps  the  largest  industry  open  to  women. 
Managers  of  twenty-five  workrooms  in  the  business  district  were 
interviewed.  In  most  of  these  shops  a  high  grade  of  work  was  done, 
and  a  high  order  of  needle-work  was  required.  The  girls  employed 
were  usually  of  a  good  class  and  evidently  from  good  homes.  The  shop 
conditions  were  generally  good. 

The  employers  require  that  a  girl  entering  these  shops  shall  be 
neat  above  all  things.  She  must  like  to  sew  and  have  a  real  aptitude 
for  it  if  she  wishes  to  succeed.  There  is  no  definite  educational  require- 
ment, but  a  grammar-school  education  at  least  will  be  greatly  to  a 
girl's  advantage.  Swedish  and  Norwegian  girls  usually  do  well;  and 
girls  of  these  nationalities  are  preferred  by  some  establishments. 
Others  have  found  Bohemian  and  Polish  girls  very  successful,  and  in 
two  shops  colored  girls  were  employed. 

METHODS   OF  TRAINING 

There  is  little  opportunity  for  a  girl  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  to 
enter  a  shop  as  a  learner;  for  although  dressmakers  will  occasionally 
take  a  sixteen-year-old  girl  to  learn  the  trade,  most  of  them  demand 
trained  helpers.  They  complain  that  they  are  too  busy  to  take  the 
time  to  teach  girls  who  have  no  knowledge  of  sewing,  and  that,  more- 
over, few  young  girls  are  willing  to  serve  an  apprenticeship. 

In  case  an  untrained  girl  does  enter  an  establishment,  she  is  given 
a  good  deal  of  errand-work  at  first  and  but  little  sewing.  She  is  gradu- 
ally taught  to  bind  seams,  to  run  seams,  to  sew  on  buttons  and  hooks 
and  eyes,  and  to  make  button-holes.  In  dressmaking  as  in  most  other 
trades,  the  work  has  become  specialized,  so  that  there  is  little  chance 
for  a  girl  to  learn  to  make  an  entire  garment.  She  finally  becomes 
a  sleeve-maker,  a  skirt-maker,  a  waist-draper,  or  a  waist-finisher. 
Several  managers  stated  that  a  girl  has  the  privilege  of  learning  all  the 
branches  if  she  wishes,  but  usually,  when  she  has  learned  to  make  a 
sleeve  or  a  skirt  well,  she  is  content  to  go  no  farther.  Cutting  and 
fitting  are  never  taught.  The  result  of  these  methods  is  that  a  girl 
rarely  receives  in  a  shop,  training  sufficiently  thorough  to  enable  her  to 
work  independently. 

REQUIREMENTS,  WAGES,  HOURS  AND  SEASONS 

Wages. — A  learner  receives  anywhere  from  carfare  to  $3  or  $4  a 
week.  Usually  she  is  paid  $1.50  a  week  for  the  first  two  or  three 
months.  At  the  end  of  a  year,  if  she  has  shown  any  aptitude,  she  is 
paid  $5  or  $6 ;  at  the  end  of  two  years,  from  $6  to  $8.  The  wage  usually 
paid  to  so-called  "skilled  workers"  is  $10  or  $12.  In  a  few  high  grade 
shops,  waist-drapers  earn  as  much  as  $35  a  week. 

Hours. — The  hours  in  most  establishments  are  from  8  a.  m.  to  5  :30 
p.  m.,  with  half  an  hour  at  noon.  The  work  is  continuous  for  six  days 
of  the  week ;  in  a  few  cases,  however,  the  shops  are  closed  an  hour  or 


22  OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT 

two  earlier  on  Saturdays.  During  the  busiest  seasons  the  girls  are 
sometimes  required  to  work  overtime,  for  which  they  are  paid  a  cer- 
tain per  cent  of  their  weekly  wage  or  allowed  to  go  home  early  another 
time  to  compensate. 

Seasons. — Dressmaking  is  one  of  the  seasonal  trades.  There  are 
during  the  year  about  nine  months  of  work.  Most  firms  are  busy  from 
September  to  January  and  from  March  to  July.  At  the  end  of  each  of 
these  periods  the  inefficient  workers  are  laid  off.  Many  of  the  shops 
are  fairly  busy  except  for  a  month  or  six  weeks  in  the  summer  when 
they  are  closed.  From  the  latter  part  of  March  to  the  first  of  May 
the  season  is  at  its  height,  and  skilled  workers  are  in  great  demand. 

DEMAND  FOR  SKILLED  WORKERS 

The  general  opinion  seems  to  be  that  there  is  a  growing  demand 
for  skilled  and  intelligent  workers  and  that  it  is  quite  difficult  to  get 
efficient  help.  The  manager  of  a  shop  where  twenty-five  girls  were 
employed  said  she  could  use  sixty  girls  but  that  she  could  not  get  them. 
Other  dressmakers  stated : 

"Girls  are  very  scarce  in  this  trade;  we  could  use  experienced 
girls  now." 

'T  have  fewer  applications  each  year  for  dressmakers  and  I  can 
get  fewer  skilled  workers." 

"It  is  very  hard  to  get  girls  who  can  sew  well." 

"I  can't  get  efficient  girls.  They  are  careless  and  take  no  interest 
in  their  work." 

"I  had  an  'ad'  in  the  paper  four  weeks  for  an  expert  sleeve-maker 
and  did  not  receive  an  answer.  I  can  use  thirty-five  girls  usually  but 
I  can't  get  them." 

The  heads  of  some  establishments  complained  that  fewer  girls  are 
entering  the  trade.  They  thought  it  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Amer- 
ican girl  craves  excitement,  and  that  dressmaking  is  too  confining  for 
the  average  girl.  The  girls  of  today  are  not  taught  sewing  in  their 
homes,  and  without  some  knowledge  of  sewing  a  girl  will  not  turn  to 
dressmaking.  One  manager  said  that  the  teaching  of  sewing  in  the 
public  schools  seemed  to  be  helping  a  little. 

NEED  FOR  TECHNICAL  TRAINING 

The  great  demand  for  skilled  workers  points  to  the  need  of  a  trade 
school,  but  the  opinions  of  employers  as  to  the  practicability  of  a  trade 
school  vary.  Nearly  all  the  dressmakers  believe  that  more  girls  should 
be  taught  so-called  "sewing"  and  that  a  trade  school  might  be  a  great 
help  in  some  respects,  but  that  no  school  could  give  the  training  which 
is  given  in  a  workroom.    The  following  opinions  are  given : 

"A  trade  school  would  be  a  great  help  if  it  could  interest  more 
girls  in  dressmaking." 

"If  a  trade  school  would  teach  just  the  rudiments,  a  girl  would 
have  no  trouble  finding  work." 

"A  trade  school  would  be  a  great  help,  as  few  dressmakers  are 
willing  to  take  apprentices — moreover  only  a  very  few  girls  are 
willing  to  serve  an  apprenticeship.  The  sewing  in  the  public  schools 
has  helped  a  little,  and  a  trade  school  ought  to  be  a  great  advance." 

"A  school  would  be  a  great  help  to  a  girl  who  wants  to  go  into 
dressmaking.     She  could  learn  so  mvich  more  than  she  could  in  any 


OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT  23 

dressmaking  establishment,  where  the  work  is  so  specialized.  But 
unless  it  were  specialized,  we  should  never  accomplish  anything." 

"A  trade  school  would  be  quite  an  advance  if  it  were  run  on  an 
extremely  practical  basis." 

"Technical  training  would  be  of  little  value  without  the  work- 
room experience." 

"If  a  teacher  who  had  had  workroom  experience  were  employed,  a 
trade  school  might  be  of  some  value." 

No  very  definite  suggestions  for  teaching  dressmaking  in  a  tech- 
nical school  were  given.  Most  of  the  dressmakers  interviewed  did  not 
favor  the  teaching  of  cutting  and  fitting.  It  was  suggested  that  design- 
ing might  be  taught.  One  dressmaker  thought  that  draping  could  be 
taught  in  perhaps  two  years  in  such  a  school.  But  the  majority  seemed 
to  think  that  button-holing,  seaming,  binding,  tucking,  and  the  more 
elementary  parts  of  dressmaking  would  be  sufficient  for  the  girl  who 
expects  to  enter  a  workroom.  It  was  thought  that  a  woman  who  had 
had  workroom  experience  would  be  more  successful  in  teaching  dress- 
making in  such  a  school. 


THE  SEWING  TRADES 


II.    MILLINERY 

Eighteen  shops  were  visited  in  this  inquiry ;  seven  wholesale  shops 
employing  from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  and  fifty  girls ;  nine 
small  shops  employing  from  three  to  thirty  girls ;  two  employing  about 
thirty  men  and  girls.  In  these  last  two  establishments  wire  hat-frames 
were  manufactured ;  this  is  not  a  desirable  trade,  for  the  work  is 
unskilled  and  very  seasonal,  and  a  number  of  rather  low-grade  men 
are  employed,  who  are  gradually  displacing  the  girls  in  the  trade ;  and 
as  the  wire  and  clipper  cut  and  callous  the  hands,  few  girls  who  are 
employed  remain  long  at  the  job. 

In  some  of  the  wholesale  houses  a  rather  cheap  grade  of  work  was 
done.  The  work  of  the  small  shops  on  the  other  hand  was  superior  in 
quality,  and  in  them  the  general  conditions  were  good. 

The  girls  who  enter  millinery  are  perhaps  of  a  more  select  class 
of  girls  than  those  in  any  other  industry.  This  industry  is  still  so 
exclusively  a  woman's  trade  that  the  best  positions  are  open  to  women. 

METHODS  OF  TRAINING 

In  the  small  shops  girls  at  the  age  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  are 
engaged  as  learners.  As  the  short  hours  disorganize  the  work,  the 
wholesale  shops  will  only  occasionally  employ  girls  under  sixteen,  and 
there  are  shops  which  employ  only  experienced  girls.  In  a  wholesale 
house  which  takes  apprentices,  an  apprentice  at  first  prepares  trimming 
and  is  "helper"  to  a  "maker."  If  she  is  observing  she  may  learn  a  little 
by  watching.  In  some  of  the  large  shops,  a  designer  will  have  a  group 
of  twelve  girls  working  with  her;  two  or  three  out  of  the  group  will 
be  apprentices,  who  learn  by  watching  their  more  or  less  skilled  neigh- 
bors. In  many  of  the  wholesale  houses  the  work  is  very  specialized, 
and  a  girl  may  do  such  routine  work  as  sewing  in  lining  for  months  at 
a  time.    So  the  prospects  for  a  girl  to  learn  the  trade  in  these  shops  arc 


24  OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT 

very  slight.  Several  managers  stated  that  girls  who  wished  to  learn 
the  trade  should  enter  the  small  shops  and  come  to  them  later  as  trim- 
mers or  designers.  The  period  of  apprenticeship  in  small  shops  is  two 
seasons.  Some  firms  pay  no  wages  during  the  first  six  months,  others 
pay  one  or  two  dollars  for  two  seasons,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time, 
if  the  girl  has  shown  any  aptitude  she  may  earn  from  $6  to  $8  a  week. 
The  wholesale  houses  usually  pay  apprentices  from  $1.50  to  $3. 

Wages. — The  wages  vary  greatly  in  different  shops  and  in  different 
occupations.  Designers  are  the  best  paid  and  receive  from  $25  to  $50 
a  week,  the  usual  wage  being  about  $35.  Trimmers  receive  from  $15  to 
$35 ;  makers,  from  $10  to  $20.  Girls  who  assist  and  prepare  trimming 
earn  from  $5  to  $10.  Much  of  the  work  in  the  wholesale  shops  is  paid 
on  a  piece  basis,  and  the  slow  worker  cannot  earn  much  more  than  $6 
or  $8.  In  fact,  only  girls  of  artistic  ability  and  unusual  creative  power 
can  hope  to  command  the  higher  salaries,  and  the  usual  wage  for  the 
trade  as  a  whole  is  about  $12. 

Hours. — The  hours  are  usually  from  8  a.  m.  to  6  p.  m.,  varying  half 
an  hour  in  some  cases.  In  a  few  wholesale  houses  where  piecework  is 
done  and  in  the  smaller  shops  in  outlying  districts,  girls  are  required 
to  work  overtime  when  the  season  is  at  its  height. 

Seasons. — The  great  disadvantage  of  millinery  is  its  extremely 
seasonal  character.  The  wholesale  houses  are  usually  busy  during 
September,  October,  and  November,  and  in  March,  April,  and  May. 
In  some  houses  the  season  may  begin  earlier  and  last  a  little  longer, 
but  practically  the  busy  season  does  not  last  longer  than  seven  months. 
From  June  through  part  of  August  the  agents  are  getting  orders  for 
fall  and  winter  hats ;  and  from  December  to  February,  for  the  spring 
and  summer  hats.  Then  the  force  of  workers  is  greatly  decreased. 
One  house  which  employs  one  hundred  girls  during  the  busy  season 
decreases  the  force  to  twenty  when  the  work  becomes  slack.  Only 
the  most  competent — the  skilled  designers  and  trimmers — are 
employed  throughout  the  year. 

In  the  retail  trade  the  busy  season  begins  in  March  and  is  over  by 
June,  and  again  September,  October,  and  November  are  busy  months. 

No  milliner  can  expect  more  than  six  or  eight  months  of  work 
during  the  year. 

Employers  generally  seem  to  have  no  trouble  in  securing  girls  in 
spite  of  the  seasonal  character  of  the  work,  but  they  complain  of  their 
lack  of  artistic  appreciation  and  creative  ability.  They  thought  that  if 
a  technical  school  could  give  training  in  color  and  form  and  teach  the 
sewing  required  in  millinery,  it  might  be  helpful ;  otherwise  as  there 
is  no  principle  to  follow  in  millinery  and  as  the  styles  are  changing 
every  season,  there  would  be  no  advantage  in  technical  training.  More- 
over the  technical  training  must  be  supplemented  by  workroom  experi- 
ence, as  the  workroom  only  can  give  certain  kinds  of  training  which 
are  necessary  to  a  successful  milliner. 


OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT  25 


THE  SEWING  TRADES 


III.    LINGERIE,  WOMEN'S  WAISTS  AND  DRESSES 

This  report  covers  three  branches  of  the  ready-made  clothing 
industry  which  includes,  in  Chicago,  not  only  lingerie  and  women's 
waists  and  dresses  but  women's  coats  and  skirts,  men's  ready-made 
clothing,  and  children's  dresses  and  coats.  We  hope  during  the  coming 
winter  to  extend  the  report  to  all  branches  of  the  trade  and  to  the 
cheaper  as  well  as  to  the  better-grade  firms. 

Up  to  the  present  time  fifteen  firms  in  the  three  branches  desig- 
nated, employing  about  three  hundred  girls,  have  been  visited.  Condi- 
tions in  these  establishments  varied.  Two  or  three  firms  had  small 
workrooms.  In  factories  where  the  lighting  was  poor,  the  ventilation 
bad,  and  the  space  not  ample,  the  wages  were  usually  low,  and  a  lower 
type  of  girl  was  employed.  The  conditions  in  the  large  workrooms 
were  generally  good. 

The  following  groups  of  workers  are  found : 

Cutters. — Patterns  are  cut  in  large  quantities  by  a  machine.  Men 
cutters  are  always  employed,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  a  woman 
could  not  do  the  cutting. 

Designers. — In  this  particular  line  of  work  women  are  employed 
more  often  than  men.  A  designer  must  be  able  to  draw  so  that  she 
may  make  her  plan  of  the  garment  clear  to  the  cutter.  She  must  have 
some  creative  power. 

Sample-hands. — These  workers  put  together  the  first  sample  gar- 
ment, after  it  has  been  designed  and  cut,  and  plan  the  work  in  sections 
for  the  machinists. 

Machinists. — The  greater  number  of  girls  employed  in  the  ready- 
made  clothing  trade  are  machinists.  The  machines  are  run  by  power 
and  are  started  and  regulated  by  the  pressure  of  the  girl's  foot  on  a 
lever,  while  her  hands  guide  the  work. 

METHODS  OF  TRAINING 

As  a  girl  cannot  legally  run  a  power  machine  until  she  is  sixteen, 
and  there  is  little  handwork  to  be  done,  few  factories  employ  girls 
under  sixteen  years.  Some  shops  employ  girls  of  fourteen  and  fifteen 
as  finishers — cutting  threads,  sewing  on  buttons,  cutting  the  goods 
under  the  lace,  and  preparing  the  trimming.  After  they  are  sixteen, 
they  may  be  put  at  machines.  The  necessary  qualities  for  a  good 
machinist  are  speed  and  intelligence.  A  girl  usually  learns  machine- 
operating  by  sitting  next  to  an  experienced  machinist  and  receiving  a 
little  help  from  the  forewoman.  The  work  is  highly  specialized  and 
for  the  beginner  it  is  rather  discouraging.  She  is  usually  the  one  who 
is  first  discharged  when  the  work  becomes  a  little  slack;  and  if  she 
has  learned  only  one  simple  stitch  and  has  no  idea  how  to  put  together 
any  garment,  or  if  she  is  accustomed  to  one  particular  machine,  she 
may  find  it  difficult  to  secure  another  place.  One  employer  said  that 
he  preferred  girls  who  could  make  an  entire  waist  or  dress  so  that  he 
could  change  them  from  one  machine  to  another;  but  the  girls  are 


26  OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT 

usually  satisfied  if  they  know  only  one  process.  Several  employers 
stated  that  they  had  urged  girls  to  change  their  machines ;  but  they 
will  leave  rather  than  learn  another  branch.  In  several  shops  girls 
have  an  opportunity  to  learn  machine  embroidery  on  waists  and 
dresses.  In  some  instances  machine-operators  have  risen  to  positions 
of  designers  and  sample-hands. 

WAGES,   HOURS  AND  SEASONS 

Wages. — A  girl  under  sixteen  years  may  earn  from  $3.50  to  $4.50 
a  week.  A  machine-operator  usually  starts  at  $4.50  or  $5  a  week  and 
works  for  that  amount  until  she  learns  or  until  her  piecework  exceeds 
her  weekly  wage.  Then  she  is  paid  on  a  piece  basis.  The  average 
wage  for  a  machinist  is  $10;  though  in  some  factories  girls  are  earning 
from  $15  to  $20.  In  two  factories  where  a  high  grade  of  work  was 
done,  the  machinists  were  paid  by  the  week.  The  more  skilled  ones 
received  $10  to  $15  in  one  factory,  and  in  the  other  some  were  paid 
as  much  as  $20. 

Hours.— The  hours  are  generally  from  8  a.  m.  to  5  :30  p.  m.  for 
girls  over  sixteen  years,  varying  a  quarter-  or  a  half-hour  in  some 
cases — with  half  an  hour  at  noon  and  Saturday  afternoon  off,  except- 
ing in  two  shops  where  they  were  closed  only  during  the  summer 
months. 

Seasons. — The  majority  of  these  firms  were  busy  through  the 
year  with  the  exception  of  two  months  during  the  summer  v/hen  they 
were  compelled  to  decrease  their  force  of  workers  somewhat.  One 
large  factory  where  dresses  were  manufactured  was  planning  to  intro- 
duce the  manufacture  of  negligee  wear  during  the  slack  season  in 
order  to  retain  the  workers. 

NEED  FOR  TECHNICAL  TRAINING 

All  the  employers  interviewed  were  in  favor  of  training  in  this 
line  of  work.     The  following  opinions  were  expressed : 

"A  school  would  be  a  great  benefit  in  teaching  the  girl  to  make 
an  entire  garment.  The  girl  who  knows  how  to  do  everything  is  the 
valuable  one.  It's  very  hard  to  get  good  machinists.  Not  more  than 
five  out  of  a  hundred  who  answer  our  advertisements  can  sew." 

"There  are  few  skilled  workers.  A  school  would  bring  more  com- 
petent girls  into  the  field." 

"If  a  girl  were  taught  all  the  processes  of  machinery  she  would 
have  no  trouble  getting  a  position." 

"If  girls  were  given  technical  training  they  could  do  their  work 
more  intelligently,  and  there  would  be  a  greater  opportunity  for  them 
to  become  designers  and  sample-hands." 

One  employer  had  proposed  to  the  manufacturers'  association  to 
which  he  belonged  the  establishment  of  a  trade  school  where  the  girls 
might  be  taught  seaming  and  how  to  put  together  a  garment ;  but  many 
of  the  firms  thought  it  was  cheaper  to  employ  inexperienced  girls  at 
lower  wages  even  if  it  did  take  longer  to  teach  them  in  their  shops. 

It  was  suggested:  (1)  That  an  all-round  knowledge  of  machine- 
operating  be  given ;  (2)  that  drawing  and  designing  of  garments  be 
taught ;  (3)  that  a  course  in  drafting  and  cutting  of  patterns  be  offered, 
though  men  are  generally  employed  as  cutters;  (4)  that  teachers  who 
have  had  factory  experience  should  be  employed. 


OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT  27 


•    THE  SEWING  TRADES 


IV.       BRAIDING  AND  EMBROIDERING 

The  establishments  visited  were  those  in  which  exclusive  work  is 
done  in  braiding  and  embroidering  waists  and  dresses.  Some  of  these 
are  small  shops  employing  from  four  to  fiftv  girls.  These  embroider 
for  the  private  dressmakers.  Larger  factories  employing  as  many  as 
two  hundred  and  fifty  girls  receive  their  orders  from  the  large  dress- 
making establishments. 

The  work  in  these  shops  consists  in  braiding,  embroidering,  bead- 
ing, appliqueing  dresses,  waists  and  coats,  and  making  buttons  and 
dress-trimmings.  Much  of  the  work  is  done  by  machine,  but  there  is 
also  a  little  handwork. 

The  work  is  varied  and  interesting  and  offers  good  opportunities 
under  favorable  shop  conditions. 

METHOD  OF  TRAINING 

Few  girls  under  sixteen  are  employed.  At  first  they  wind  spools, 
match  silks,  and  learn  the  simple  stitches  in  hand  embroidery.  Some- 
times they  are  employed  to  make  buttons.  At  sixteen  they  may  learn 
the  machining,  which  requires  accuracy  and  good  eyesight.  As  a  rule, 
employers  cannot  spare  the  time  to  teach  girls  and  consequently  are 
demanding  workers  already  trained.  Several  employers  prefer  to 
employ  foreign  girls,  thinking  that  they  make  better  embroiderers  and 
that  they  are  less  restless  and  less  likely  to  leave  than  the  American 
girls  usually  are. 

WAGES,  HOURS  AND  SEASONS 

Wages. — Girls  under  sixteen  generally  receive  from  $3.50  to  $5 
a  week.  Skilled  workers  can  earn  as  much  as  $20.  The  usual  wage 
for  an  experienced  girl  is  about  $12.  In  all  except  two  shops,  the  wages 
are  paid  on  a  time  basis. 

Hours. — The  hours  are  from  8  a.  m.  to  5  :30  p.  m. 

Seasons. — The  seasons  generally  correspond  to  the  seasons  in  the 
dressmaking  trade.  The  summer  months  are  slack,  and  girls  are  often 
laid  off  during  that  time. 

Emplo5''ers  find  it  dif^cult  to  secure  girls  who  can  do  the  work 
accurately.  Few  are  intelligent  enough  to  detect  a  flaw  in  their  work, 
and  the  girls  who  seek  employment  are  generally  lacking  in  originality, 
with  little  appreciation  of  symmetr}^  and  color.  Skilled  embroiderers 
either  by  hand  or  machine  are  scarce.  One  manager  of  a  shop  said 
that  she  had  to  send  some  of  her  work  to  New  York  because  she  could 
not  find  any  expert  hand  embroiderers  here. 

All  the  employers  except  one  thought  that  their  work  might  be 
taught  with  success  in  a  technical  school,  particularly  if  special  atten- 
tion is  given  to  designing.  It  is  claimed  that  skilled  machine  embroid- 
erers are  always  in  demand  and  that  they  can  command  high  wages. 


U  OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT 


THE  SEWING  TRADES 


V.    CORSET-MAKING 

There  are  two  branches  of  corset-making,  the  wholesale  or  fac- 
tory work  and  the  custom-work.  Two  factories  were  visited  and  ten 
small  shops  where  corsets  are  "made  to  order." 

The  factory  work  to  some  extent  is  unskilled  and  mechanical. 
The  work  is  largely  power  machining  and  offers  no  inducement  to  the 
girl  who  wishes  to  learn  a  trade.  Girls  under  sixteen  are  employed  to 
cut  and  tie  threads  and  to  insert  the  bones  in  the  casings.  These 
factories  employ  many  immigrant  girls. 

The  custom  or  "made-to-order"  corset  trade  is  interesting  and 
highly  skilled.  The  trade  is  at  present  small  but  it  is  growing,  and 
each  year  there  is  a  greater  demand  for  intelligent  corset-makers. 

METHODS  OF  TRAINING 

The  custom-shops  do  not  like  to  take  apprentices.  Managers 
of  these  shops  say  that  if  they  take  a  girl  who  knows  nothing  of  the 
trade  she  may  work  six  months,  and  then  they  may  find  that  she  is 
not  adapted  to  the  work  and  their  time  has  been  wasted.  They  are 
compelled  to  take  untrained  girls  occasionally,  however,  because  of 
the  difficulty  in  getting  skilled  workers.  The  apprentice  learns  the  dif- 
ferent branches  of  putting  the  pieces  together,  button-holing,  trimming, 
fitting  in  the  bones,  binding  and  machining.  Seaming  requires  the 
greatest  care  and  preciseness.  Cutting  is  seldom  taught,  and  fitting 
is  acquired  only  after  years  of  experience.  Only  one  shop  visited 
takes  learners  under  sixteen. 

WAGES,  HOURS  AND  SEASONS 

Wages  and  Hours. — The  wages  of  learners  run  from  $3  to  $5  a 
week  at  the  start.  After  three  years'  training  a  girl  should  be  earning 
from  $8  to  $12.  The  usual  wage  of  a  skilled  worker  is  $15.  Hours  are 
usually  from  8  a.  m.  to  5  :30  p.  m.  with  one  hour  at  noon. 

Seasons. — The  work  is  not  seasonal.  Unlike  most  branches  of  the 
sewing  trades  there  is  no  slack  season  in  corset-making. 

NEED  FOR  A  TRADE  SCHOOL 

The  general  opinion  in  the  custom  trade  was  to  the  efifect  that 
corset-making  could  be  well  taught  in  a  trade  school.  A  school  would 
give  an  all-round  training  which  few  of  the  shops  have  time  to  give. 
Some  of  the  employers  who  favored  a  trade  school  expressed  the  fol- 
lowing opinions: 

"I  class  corset-making  with  dressmaking.  People  are  beginning 
to  see  that  it  is  as  necessary  for  a  corset  to  fit  well  as  it  is  for  a  dress. 
The  custom-work  is  growing,  and  there  will  be  a  need  for  more  skilled 
workers.    A  school  would  bring  more  workers  into  the  field." 

"It  is  hard  to  get  girls  in  this  trade ;  but  if  they  once  learn  corset- 
making  they  like  it.    A  trade  school  would  be  a  help,  for  the  trade  is 


OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT  29 

growing,  and  in  the  next  few  years  there  is  going  to  be  a  great  demand 
for  skilled  workers." 

"It  is  extremely  difficult  to  secure  girls.  I  have  fifteen  girls  and 
I  could  use  twenty-five.  A  trade  school  would  be  a  splendid  thing  if  it 
set  out  to  teach  only  the  simplest  things  in  corset-making.  I  suggest 
that  hygiene  be  taught  in  connection  with  corset-making." 

"Corset-making  requires  preciseness  to  a  greater  extent  than 
dressmaking.  There  are  few  skilled  girls  in  this  trade  and  there  is  a 
demand  for  them.  If  a  school  would  teach  binding  and  eyeletting  there 
would  be  plenty  of  openings  for  girls.  Send  such  girls  to  me,  and  I  will 
pay  them  from  $8  to  $10  a  week." 

"A  trade  school  would  be  a  good  thing.  The  work  is  very  particu- 
lar and  trained  girls  are  needed.  Though  there  is  not  a  great  opening 
now,  there  surely  will  be  in  a  few  years.  Everything  could  be  taught 
in  such  a  school  except  fitting,  and  that  takes  years  of  experience." 

On  the  whole  the  prospects  in  the  corset  trade  are  good,  though  the 
industry  is  as  yet  small.  The  work  is  steady,  the  shop  conditions  are 
excellent,  and  skilled  workers  are  well  paid. 


THE  SEWING  TRADES 


VI.    TIE-MAKING 

As  tie-making  offers  no  inducement  to  the  girl  under  sixteen,  only 
a  few  firms,  seven  in  all,  were  visited.  The  trade  is  easy  to  learn, 
and,  though  not  complicated,  the  work  is  considerably  subdivided.  The 
machinist  runs  together  the  long  straight  ties,  which  are  passed  on  to 
the  girls  who  turn  them  and  insert  the  lining.  In  some  cases  girls  do 
only  the  hemming.  Other  girls  work  on  bow  ties,  which  are  put  to- 
gether by  hand. 

As  any  ordinary  machinist  can  do  the  work,  most  establishments 
employ  only  girls  who  have  learned  operating  elsewhere.  One  em- 
ployer, however,  who  preferred  taking  girls  under  sixteen  and  training 
them  in  his  own  way  employed  seven  girls  of  this  age.  All  these  little 
girls  are  engaged  to  cut  threads,  turn  ties,  run  errands  and  pack  boxes, 
and  they  are  usually  paid  from  $3  to  $4  a  week  while  they  are  doing 
this  unskilled  work. 

Wages. — The  work  is  on  a  piece  basis  and  the  usual  wage  is  from 
$8  to  $10  a  week.  Few  girls  are  said  to  be  able  to  earn  as  much  as 
$15  a  week. 

Seasons. — Tie-making  is  not  a  regularly  seasonal  trade ;  the  busy 
seasons  vary  according  to  orders.  The  months  of  July  and  August  are, 
however,  usually  slack,  and  during  these  months  the  less  efficient  girls 
are  laid  off. 

Hours.— The  hours  are  from  8  or  8  :30  a.  m.  to  5  :30  p.  m.  In  some 
shops  the  girls  work  an  hour  overtime  during  the  busy  season. 

The  shop  conditions  were  generally  fair,  and  in  one  factory  the 
conditions  were  excellent.  The  employer  seemed  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  girls,  who  were  neater  and  more  prosperous  looking 
than  the  girls  in  other  shops.  The  prospects  in  the  trade  are  not 
favorable  for  the  girl  who  has  no  knowledge  of  machining. 


30  OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT 


THE  SEWING  TRADES 


VII.    CAP-MAKING 

Cap-making  is  not  a  large  industry  in  Chicago,  but  it  includes 
the  making  of  caps  of  all  description.  Some  factories  manufacture 
only  caps  to  go  with  uniforms,  and  in  most  of  these  shops  there  is 
an  embroidery  department  for  embroidering  badges  and  banners  in 
gold  and  silver  and  silk.  The  embroidering  is  usually  done  by  hand; 
the  work  is  interesting;  and  a  rather  good  class  of  girls  is  employed 
at  this  particular  branch,  which  does  not,  however,  offer  openings 
for  many  girls. 

The  prospects  in  the  trade  are  not  good,  and  girls  cannot  be 
advised  to  enter.  There  is  a  strong  union  among  the  men,  and,  as 
most  of  the  shops  manufacture  uniform  caps  for  conductors  and  motor- 
men  who  will  buy  only  from  strictly  union  shops,  union  men  are  dis- 
placing girls  in  the  trade. 

In  those  shops  where  ordinary  caps  are  made  the  work  is  greatly 
subdivided.  Men  are  employed  to  do  the  cutting  and  blocking  and 
machining.  Girls  do  only  the  machining.  No  girls  under  sixteen  are 
employed. 

Wages. — The  wages  are  paid  on  a  piece  basis,  the  maximum  wage 
being  $15  a  week.  The  usual  wage  is  probably  not  more  than  $8  or 
$10.    The  beginner  is  paid  $5. 

Hours. — The  hours  are  from  8  a.  m.  to  5  :30  p.  m. 

Seasons. — The  seasons  vary,  but  there  are  likely  to  be  long  slack 
periods. 

The  conditions  are  very  unfavorable  in  many  of  the  shops.  In 
the  shops  where  girls  may  enter,  a  rough  class  of  men  are  employed. 


THE  SEWING  TRADES 


VIII.     SUSPENDER-MAKING 

Suspender-making,  like  tie-making,  ordinarily  requires  girls  who 
are  experienced  machine-operators.  In  only  one  shop  visited  were 
girls  under  sixteen  employed.  There  the  work  was  mechanical,  such 
as  sewing  on  tags  and  "packing,"  for  which  they  were  paid  $3  to 
$3.50  a  week.  If  they  remain  until  they  are  sixteen  they  are  taught 
to  use  the  power  machines.  But  several  shops  will  take  girls  o^ 
sixteen  as  learners. 

Wages. — Learners  who  are  sixteen  receive  $5  a  week.  Experi- 
enced workers  can  rarely  earn  more  than  $10.  The  usual  wage  is 
probably  not  more  than  $8. 

Hours. — The  hours  are  from  8  a.  m.  to  5  :30  p.  m.  The  girls 
are  required  to  work  overtime  in  some  shops  when  business  increases. 

Seasons. — The  trade  is  seasonal ;  the  busiest  time  for  all  firms  is 
in  December;  during  the  summer  months  work  is  usually  slack  and 
the  force  is  decreased. 


OPPORTUNITIES    OF  EMPLOYMENT  31 

On  the  whole  the  suspender  industry  does  not  seem  to  offer  many 
inducements  to  a  girl.  The  work  is  easy  but  uninteresting,  and  a  girl 
usually  remains  at  one  process.  Wages  are  not  as  high  as  the  wages 
of  operators  in  some  other  lines  of  work.  The  shop  conditions  in  many 
cases  are  not  very  favorable. 


THE  SEWING  TRADES 


IX.    GLOVE-MAKING 

The  glove-making  industry  in  Chicago  consists  largely  of  the 
manufacturing  of  men's  working-gloves.  There  are  three  or  four 
small  shops  where  women's  gloves  are  made.  Altogether  about  six 
hundred  or  seven  hundred  women  are  employed  in  the  trade. 

Few  girls  under  sixteen  are  employed,  since  the  work  is  almost 
entirely  stitching  seams  on  power  machines.  The  only  w^ork  that  a 
fourteen-  or  fifteen-year-old  girl  can  do  is  inspecting  gloves  or  cutting 
threads. 

Girls  of  sixteen  are  taught  how  to  use  power  machines.  The  work 
is  subdivided;  and  girls  usually  know  only  one  process.  Sewing 
finger  seams  is  the  most  skilled  branch  of  the  work  and  is  the  best 
paid.     Men  are  employed  to  do  the  cutting. 

Wages. — Girls  under  sixteen  receive  $3.50  a  week.  Machine  oper- 
ators are  paid  $4  or  $5  while  learning.  After  a  girl  has  learned  to  run 
a  machine  the  work  is  piecework  and  wages  vary ;  the  average  skilled 
girl  can  earn  from  $10  to  $12,  while  a  few  girls  may  earn  as  much  as 
$20  a  week. 

Hours. — The  hours  are  usually  from  7 :30  a.  m.  to  5  :30  p.  m., 
but  they  vary  a  little  in  some  shops. 

Seasons. — The  work  for  the  most  part  is  steady  and  not  seasonal, 
but  during  the  last  two  or  three  years  the  trade  as  a  whole  has  been 
slack. 

The  shop  conditions  vary,  but  the  union  is  improving  conditions 
in  the  trade;  and  the  prospects  are  fairly  good. 


32  OPPORTUNITIES    OF  EMPLOYMENT 


THE  BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY 


Boot  and  shoe  making-  is  a  large  industry  in  Chicago.  For  the 
purposes  of  this  investigation  the  five  largest  establishments  in  the 
city  were  visited.  These  factories  employed  from  four  hundred  to 
one  thousand  men  and  women. 

There  are  a  large  number  of  women  in  the  boot  and  shoe  indus- 
try employed  in  the  stitching  room,  where  a  good  deal  of  the  work 
requires  some  degree  of  skill.  Girls  are  also  engaged  in  sorting 
various  pieces  of  lining,  pasting  parts  of  the  lining  and  leather  to- 
gether, and  turning  the  edges  of  the  leather.  Girls  are  found,  too,  in 
the  finishing  rooms,  where  they  "touch  up"  the  shoes. 

There  are  endless  subdivisions  in  the  trade.  A  shoe  passes 
through  one  hundred  and  six  pair  of  hands  and  conforms  to  the  re- 
quirements of  fifty-eight  different  machines  before  it  becomes  the 
perfect  product. 

The  simplest  seam  is  stitching  the  tongue  to  a  piece  of  lining. 
"Vamping,"  or  sewing  on  the  uppers,  is  the  most  skilled  process.  A 
vamper  needs  to  be  very  accurate.  "Skiving"  or  thinning  down  the 
leather  to  a  beveled  edge  also  requires  a  high  degree  of  skill. 

Few  girls  under  sixteen  years  are  employed.  About  forty  were 
found  in  the  factories  visited.  They  tie  and  cut  threads,  do  some 
other  mechanical  work  and  they  usually  leave  before  they  are  placed 
in  charge  of  a  machine. 

It  takes  from  one  to  two  years  to  learn  to  operate  one  of  the 
power  machines  skillfully,  and  under  the  present  system  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  a  girl  to  learn  the  boot  and  shoe  trade.  She  may  stay 
at  one  machine  for  a  year  or  two  and  still  not  master  it,  because  no 
one  could  spare  a  little  time  to  show  her.  Only  after  years  in  the 
trade  may  a  girl  become  a  vamper  or  an  operator  of  the  more  difficult 
machines.  Better  manufacturers  do  not  want  learners ;  and  girls 
must  often  begin  in  factories  which  make  the  poorer  grade  of  shoes. 

Wages. — The  wages  vary  but  do  not  exceed  $4  a  week  for  the 
beginner.  The  unskilled  work  such  as  sorting  and  pasting  is  paid  on 
a  time  basis.  When  a  girl  is  given  a  stitching  machine  she  is  paid  by 
the  piece.  The  best  workers  earn  from  $14  to  $18  a  week ;  and  a 
vamper  sometimes  earns  as  much  as  $20  to  $25.  The  usual  wage,  how- 
ever, is  not  more  than  $12. 

Fines. — If  there  is  a  defect  in  a  pair  of  shoes,  the  person  who  is 
responsible  has  to  purchase  the  shoes  at  cost.  This  is  said  to  be  no 
loss  to  the  worker,  who,  it  is  claimed,  can  sell  the  shoes  at  a  profit. 

Hours. — The  hours  are  from  7  :30  a.  m.  to  5  :30  p.  m.  with  half  an 
hour  at  noon  and  Saturday  afternoons  off. 

Season. — The  trade  is  not  seasonal.  Sometimes  the  factories  close 
for  a  week  during  the  year,  but  the  work  is  never  slack  enough  to 
necessitate  laying  off  a  large  number  of  workers. 

NEED  FOR  TRADE  CLASSES 

There  are  numerous  openings  for  skilled  workers,  but  employers 
state  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  secure  competent  or  even  intelligent  girls 


OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT  a 

for  the  trade.  The  employers  were  heartily  in  favor  of  a  technical 
school.  They  thought  that,  if  girls  received  some  knowledge  of  the 
boot  and  shoe  industry  in  a  school,  more  of  them  would  enter  the 
trade  and  that  they  would  remain  longer.  They  would  have  an 
opportunity  to  become  masters  of  their  craft  and  would  look  at  their 
work  from  a  different  standpoint  from  that  of  the  girl  who  punches 
eyelets  or  sews  a  tongue  to  a  shapeless  piece  of  lining  month  after 
month  and  knows  nothing  else.  One  employer  thought  that  a  trade 
school  would  solve  the  problem  for  the  girl  who  must  go  to  work 
immediately  after  leaving  school.  Few  workrooms  now  ofter  facilities 
for  teaching  beginners,  and,  even  if  opportunities  were  offered,  few 
girls  would  enter  regular  apprenticeships. 

The  manufacturers  were  of  the  opinion  that  a  school  would  have 
to  be  well  equipped  and  that,  in  addition  to  teaching  the  various  parts 
of  the  trade,  arrangements  would  have  to  be  made  for  practical  work 
in  some  factory. 


ARTIFICIAL  FLOVn^ER-MAKING 

Artificial  flower-making  is  a  poor  trade  in  Chicago.  The  finer 
grades  of  flowers  are  all  imported  or  made  in  the  East.  There  are 
only  three  or  four  places  in  the  city  where  any  manufacturing  is  done, 
and  in  these  the  shop  conditions  are  unfavorable. 

Girls  under  sixteen  are  frequently  employed  as  apprentices,  but 
they  have  no  prospect  of  advancement  or  steady  work.  After  a  girl 
has  served  her  apprenticeship  of  a  few  weeks  and  has  learned  the 
trade,  she  may  be  discharged  and  a  new  apprentice  taken  on  in  her 
place.  The  work  is  really  not  skilled,  and  a  girl  can  learn  "branching," 
which  is  about  the  only  process  that  is  done  here,  in  a  few  days. 

The  wages  are  very  low,  a  beginner  receiving  $2  or  $3,  and  wages 
rarely  exceed  $8  even  for  skilled  workers. 

The  work  is  very  seasonal.  There  are  not  more  than  seven 
months  of  work  during  the  year. 


BOOKBINDING 


This  report  is  based  on  interviews  with  employers,  foremen  and 
forewomen,  in  twelve  different  shops,  ten  of  the  establishments  visited 
being  large  shops  employing  from  thirty  to  four  hundred  girls. 

The  general  conditions  in  the  trade  seem  to  be  good.  Most  of 
the  large  establishments  have  clean,  well-ventilated  workrooms.  Two 
or  three  of  the  large  shops,  and  one  or  two  of  the  smaller  ones,  were 
too  crowded,  and  the  light  was  poor.  The  ventilation,  too,  was  not 
adequate.  For  the  most  part,  however,  the  shops  seemed  well 
supervised. 

The  trade  is  large  in  Chicago  and  offers  fairly  good  opportunities 
for  girls  who  have  not  finished  the  elementary  schools  but  who  are 
quick  and  accurate  in  using  their  hands. 

The  work  varies  a  great  deal  in  different  establishments.  Some 
firms  do  regular  bookwork,  others  blankbook  work,  while  many  do 
chiefly  pamphlet  and  circular  work.  Some  firms  that  do  catalogue 
work  for  the  large  mail-order  houses  also  do  sample-book  work  and 


34  OPPORTUNITIES    OF  EMPLOYMENT 

the  addressing-  and  mailing-  of  catalogues.  The  pamphlet  and  circular 
work  is  the  lightest  kind  of  binding. 

The  following-  processes  are  done  by  girls : 

Folding. — Folding  consists  in  folding  the  sheets  to  the  size  of  the 
pages.  The  folded  sheets  are  known  as  sections.  This  process  is 
done  by  machinery  in  some  shops.  This,  however,  works  no  hardship 
to  the  girls  in  the  trade,  since  folding  is  a  purely  mechanical  process 
which  should  be  paid  on  a  time  basis  because  the  piecework  schedule 
is  far  too  low. 

Gathering. — Gathering  is  the  process  of  collecting  the  folded  sec- 
tions and  arranging  them  in  complete  book-form. 

Collating, — Collating  is  the  process  of  checking  and  correcting  the 
work  and  seeing  that  it  is  complete. 

Stitching. — Stitching  is  the  most  skilled  process  and  is  usually 
done  by  machine.  It  consists  in  sewing  the  sections  to  a  tape  or  cord 
and  requires  a  knowledge  of  the  machine  and  a  certain  amount  of 
experience  in  feeding. 

Preparing  the  leather  back  and  putting  the  pages  into  the  case  is 
rather  heavy  work  and  is  usually  done  by  men.  All  the  processes  of 
the  trade  represented  in  these  shops  require  speed  and  accuracy  rather 
than  skill.  While  there  are  not  many  opportunities  for  a  girl  under 
sixteen  years  to  enter  a  bindery,  a  few  large  union  shops  employ 
enough  girls  to  make  it  profitable  to  run  an  eight-hour  shift  for 
apprentices  under  sixteen.  These  are  said  to  be  good  places  for  a  girl 
to  learn  the  trade,  and  at  sixteen  she  may  join  the  union  with  her 
apprenticeship  completed.  But  the  number  of  girls  under  sixteen  em- 
ployed in  binderies  is  small.  Some  forewomen  seem  to  be  more  willing 
than  others  to  transfer  girls  from  one  process  to  another  in  order  to 
make  them  thoroughly  skilled  in  all  parts  of  the  trade  within  one  and 
a  half  years.  In  other  shops  the  worker  may  be  kept  for  long  periods 
on  one  particular  kind  of  work.  But  usually  the  term  of  apprentice- 
ship is  two  years. 

WAGES  AND  HOURS 

A  girl  under  sixteen  years  usually  starts  at  $3.50  or  $4  a  week  and 
works  on  a  time  basis  for  several  months,  or  until  her  piecework  rate 
exceeds  the  time  rate,  when  she  is  put  on  piecework  schedule.  Wages 
of  apprentices  sixteen  years  and  over  in  union  shops  are  $5  a  week 
for  the  first  year  and  $6  for  the  second  year.  The  unions  now  have  a 
forty-eight-hour  week  and  a  minimum  wage  of  $8  after  a  two  years' 
apprenticeship.  Employers  say  that  the  average  bindery  girl  after 
two  years  of  experience  earns  $9  to  $14  a  week.  Many  are  able  to 
earn  from  $20  to  $25.  The  regular  hours  in  union  shops  are  eight  to 
eight  and  one-half  hours  a  day  and  in  non-union  shops  eight  and 
one-half  or  nine  hours  a  day. 

SEASONS 

The  trade  is  seasonal  in  some  of  the  shops  which  do  special  work. 
This  is  most  marked  in  those  which  do  catalogue  work.  Busy  seasons 
occur  twice  a  year  and  last  about  three  months.  The  most  efficient 
and  skilled  workers  are  given  employment  all  the  year  round  in  these 
shops,  which  usually  have  some  sort  of  regular  work  which  alternates 
with  the  special  work.  Throughout  the  city  the  trade  is  not  considered 
seasonal,  for  an  experienced  bindery  girl  can  always  find  employment 
in  some  bindery  because  of  the  diversified  character  of  the  work  done. 


OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT  35 

DEMAND  FOR  SKILLED  WORKERS 

The  employers  in  the  union  shops  say  that  they  have  great  diffi- 
culty in  getting  union  help.  The  trade  is  understocked  with  workers 
with  any  degree  of  skill ;  and  many  shops  are  obliged  to  train  all  their 
help.  This,  of  course,  interferes  with  union  rules  which  restrict  some- 
what the  number  of  apprentices.  So  many  of  the  bindery  girls  are 
leaving  the  trade  to  get  married  that  it  is  impossible  to  fill  all  the  places 
with  experienced  girls. 

It  is  evident  from  the  complaints  of  the  employers  regarding  the 
scarcity  of  experienced  bindery  help  that  a  trade  school  would  be  a 
benefit.  Employers  and  forewomen  do  not  say  that  a  trade  school 
could  be  easily  conducted  ;  but  if  the  trade  school  could  be  equipped 
fairly  well,  the  trade  could  be  well  taught. 


ENGRAVING 

FEEDING,  STAMPING,   EMBOSSING    AND  GOLD   LEAF  WORK 

Girls  are  employed  as  feeders  in  copper-plate  engraving.  This 
work  consists  in  laying  the  card  on  the  copper  plate  which  is  inked 
and  polished  by  the  engraver  whose  hands  are  too  soiled  with  ink  to 
touch  the  card.  The  work  is  very  simple  and  does  not  tire  the  girl 
since  the  speed  required  is  not  great.  No  experience  is  necessary,  and 
in  this  particular  work  there  is  no  opportunity  for  advancement.  In 
nearly  all  copper-plate  engraving  establishments,  however,  the  firm 
also  does  the  stamping  and  embossing  of  stationery  and  gold-leaf 
work.  These  latter  processes  are  more  or  less  skilled  and  require  a 
good  deal  of  accuracy  and  neatness.  The  places  at  the  benches  in 
the  stamping,  embossing  and  gold-leaf  rooms  are  usually  filled  by  pro- 
moting girl  feeders  from  the  engraving  room. 

WAGES,  HOURS  AND  SEASON 

The  wages  of  the  copper-plate  feeders  range  from  $4  to  $5  a 
week,  girls  under  sixteen  years  seldom  being  paid  more  than  $4.50. 
The  girls  who  do  stamping,  embossing  and  gold-leaf  work  earn  from 
$10  to  $15  per  week,  the  usual  wage  being  about  $11.  The  hours  are 
eight  to  eight  and  one-half.  The  trade  is  not  seasonal  enough  to 
necessitate  laying  oft"  any  workers.  The  holiday  season  is  unusually 
busy. 

PROSPECTS 

Conditions  seem  to  be  fairly  good  in  these  lines  of  work  in  com- 
parison with  other  lines  of  industry  which  girls  may  enter,  but  pro- 
motion is  likely  to  be  slow.  The  work  makes  no  educational  demands, 
and  for  the  girl  who  does  not  finish  the  eighth  grade  and  has  no 
special  aptitude  for  sewing,  this  offers  easy  work  under  favorable 
shop  conditions,  all  of  the  shops  investigated  being  well  lighted,  well 
ventilated  and  having  ample  space. 


36  OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT 


PHOTOGRAPHY 

Photography  is  a  trade  that  offers  good  openings  for  girls.  The 
general  opinion  is  that  women  are  adapted  to  all  the  skilled  branches 
of  the  trade.    The  different  processes  are : 

1.  Operating. — This  is  highly  skilled  work.  There  are  few 
women  operators,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  a  woman  would  not 
make  as  successful  an  operator  as  a  man.  One  photographer  thinks 
women  would  be  especially  good  in  photographing  children,  and  be- 
lieves there  is  a  future  for  women  in  children's  work. 

2.  Developing  and  printing, — This  is  work  done  both  by  men  and 
women,  but  men  are  usually  employed. 

3.  Retouching. — Retouching  is  the  process  of  touching  up  the 
negative  with  a  pencil  wherever  necessary.  This  work  requires  a  high 
degree  of  skill,  and  it  seems  to  be  the  general  opinion  that  women  are 
very  successful  retouchers. 

4.  Spotting. — This  consists  in  taking  out  spots  and  blemishes  on 
the  print  with  a  brush.  This  work  is  not  skilled  and  it  is  usually 
done  by  women. 

5.  "Working  up"  backgrounds. — This  is  done  with  an  air  brush 
and  requires  a  good  deal  of  artistic  ability. 

6.  Mounting  and  finishing. — This  is  not  highly  skilled  work  but 
requires  care  and  precision. 

OPPORTUNITIES— PRESENT  METHODS  OF  TRAINING 

There  are  few  of  the  large  photographers  who  will  bother  with 
apprentices.  Sometimes  girls  of  sixteen  are  employed  to  sort  photo- 
graphs, do  reception  room  work,  and  in  time  they  may  learn  "spot- 
ting." But  it  takes  too  much  time  to  teach  them  the  more  skilled 
branches.  The  outlying  studios  which  are  small  and  employ  only  two 
or  three  persons  will  occasionally  take  a  learner  and  teach  her  all  of 
the  processes.  But  such  opportunities  are  rare.  Most  of  the  large 
photographers,  however,  seem  to  have  received  their  early  experience 
and  training  in  these  smaller  studios.  In  only  one  studio  was  a  girl 
under  sixteen  employed.  This  girl  ran  errands  and  sorted  photo- 
graphs. There  are  very  few  openings  in  any  branch  of  the  work  for 
girls  between  fourteen  and  sixteen. 

Wages  and  hours. — Printers  and  developers  usually  earn  from  $15 
to  $20  a  week;  spotters  earn  from  $8  to  $12;  retouchers  earn  from  $15 
to  $50  a  week ;  and  operators  may  earn  as  much  as  $100  a  week. 
Mounting  is  of  course  the  most  poorly  paid  as  it  is  the  most  unskilled 
branch  of  the  work.    Hours  are  usually  from  8:30  a.  m.  to  5:30  p.  m. 

Seasons. — The  work  is  generally  slack  one  or  two  months  in  the 
summer  and  in  January.  Large  studios  seldom  lay  off  their  employees 
during  the  slack  season,  for  there  is  such  a  dearth  of  skilled  workers 
that  the  photographers  seek  to  retain  them  at  all  costs. 

All  the  employers  interviewed  with  one  exception  were  of  the 
opinion  that  there  is  a  great  opportunity  for  a  trade  school  which 


OPPORTUNITIES    OF  EMPLOYMENT  37 

would  give  practical  training  to  the  boys  and  girls.  Tlierc  is  no  branch 
of  the  work  that  cannot  be  taught:  "photographers  are  not  born, 
they  are  made." 

The  plan  for  teaching  photography  as  suggested  by  the  head  of 
the  largest  studio  in  the  city,  was  that  a  small  studio  be  fitted  up  and 
that  every  process  of  photography  be  taught  by  a  competent  photogra- 
pher; that  practical  work  be  given  and  along  with  it  perhaps  a  little 
chemistry.  He  suggested  that  platinum  prints  be  used  if  possible,  as 
the  work  on  platinum  prints  is  done  by  hand.  He  also  said  that 
photography  could  be  taught  to  grammar-school  children  with  good 
results,  but  that  girls  and  boys  of  high-school  age  could  take  it  up 
more  intelligently. 


STENOGRAPHY,   TYPEWRITING,   AND    GENERAL 

OFFICE-WORK 

Anyone  who  has  to  do  with  finding  work  for  girls  is  likely  to  be 
somewhat  dismayed  at  what  seems  to  be  an  almost  universal  longing 
for  "office-work."  This  is,  of  course,  due  to  the  fact  that  the  work  is 
usually  light,  the  workrooms  pleasant,  the  hours  short.  To  many 
girls,  too,  it  seems  "more  ladylike." 

Office-work  for  girls  under  sixteen  may  be  considered  under  several 
dififerent  heads: 

1.  Office  stenography  and  typewriting. — Girls  who  have  not  had 
some  high-school  work  should  not  be  encouraged  to  take  business 
"college"  courses  in  stenography  and  typewriting.  An  exception 
might  possibly  be  made  in  favor  of  an  unusually  bright  eighth-grade 
graduate,  but  in  general  there  seems  to  be  little  hope  for  the  grammar- 
school  girl  who  has  gone  to  "college."  After  a  weary  and  most  dis- 
couraging search  for  a  position,  the  best  that  is  open  to  her  is  an 
undesirable  place  at  a  low  wage  from  which  she  cannot  advance. 
Good  stenographers  are  always  in  demand,  but  the  girl  who  has  not 
had  the  proper  educational  background  can  never  become  a  good 
stenographer  and  she  should  not  be  encouraged  to  waste  time  or 
money  on  a  "business  course."  The  market  is  flooded  with  inefficient 
girls,  who  are  too  incompetent  to  be  recommended  for  good  positions 
and  who  are  lowering  standards  of  work  and  wages. 

2.  General  office-work. — General  office-work  consists  of  such 
work  as  filing,  entry-work,  compiling  and  typewriting.  The  prospects 
for  a  girl  who  has  not  had  a  good  education  are  fairly  good  in  such 
w^ork  as  this,  especially  if  she  enters  a  large  commercial  or  mercantile 
establishment  wdiere  a  large  number  of  girls  are  employed.  In  these 
large  offices  typists  are  usually  in  demand,  and  the  girls  at  the  files 
often  have  an  opportunity  to  practice  on  the  machines  during  their 
spare  time,  and  many  go  to  the  public  evening  schools  to  learn  type- 
writing. As  soon  as  a  girl  can  operate  a  machine  sufficiently  well  to 
copy  a  letter  she  is  promoted  to  a  position  as  typist.  As  her  speed 
increases  and  she  becomes  more  competent,  her  wages  are  raised.  _A 
skillful  typist  can  earn  as  much  as  the  stenographer  of  average  skill. 

3.  The  operation  of  comptometers,  adding,  billing  and  bookkeep- 
ing machine.— There  seems  to  be  a  growing  demand  for  girls  who  are 


38  OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT 

able  to  operate  comptometers,  adding,  billing  and  bookkeeping  ma- 
chines. These  machines  are  easily  learned,  and  the  prospects  seem 
favorable. 

There  are  two  or  three  schools  in  the  city  where  girls  may  learn 
to  operate  these  machines  in  seven  or  eight  weeks  for  a  small  fee. 
But  in  oiBces  where  these  machines  are  installed  the  girls  can  readily 
learn  to  use  the  simpler  machines  with  practice. 

Wages. — The  wage  which  girls  under  sixteen  receive  at  the 
beginning  is  $4  a  week.  Those  over  sixteen  receive  $5  and  $6.  A 
typist  may  earn  as  high  as  $15.  Adding  and  billing  machine  operators 
receive  from  $6  to  $15,  and  operators  of  bookkeeping  machines  receive 
as  high  as  $18. 

Hours. — The  hours  are  generally  from  8  a.  m.  to  5  or  5  :30  p.  m. 

The  ofifice  managers  seem  to  think  that  the  greatest  service  a 
school  would  render  would  be  in  teaching  more  English  and  more 
arithmetic  to  the  girls  who  wish  to  enter  offices.  Some  firms  thought 
that  it  would  not  be  practical  to  teach  any  branch  of  office-work.  It 
was  stated  that  bookkeeping  as  taught  in  most  schools  is  useless. 
Some  employers  thought  that  typewriting  and  the  card  filing  systems 
might  be  taught. 

Intelligent  and  capable  girls  seem  to  be  scarce.  The  majority 
have  not  a  thorough  enough  knowledge  of  the  elementary  subjects 
to  be  come  efficient  workers. 


TELEPHONE  OPERATING 

In  the  Chicago  Telephone  Company  4,900  girls  are  employed. 
Operators  must  be  sixteen  years  of  age  and  girls  older  than  this  are 
preferred.  All  applicants  for  positions  are  given  a  physical  examina- 
tion by  a  medical  nurse. 

The  company  has  a  school  where  beginners  receive  a  four-weeks' 
course  of  training,  and  are  paid  $5  a  week  while  learning.  No  girl 
at  the  end  of  her  training  is  skillful  enough  to  handle  a  day  board; 
and  all  new  girls  are  put  on  a  five-hour  evening  shift.  Girls  on  the 
evening  shifts  are  paid  at  the  rate  of  eleven  cents  an  hour  for  eight 
hours'  work. 

The  eight  hours  daily  include  a  luncheon  period  of  forty  minutes, 
two  relief  periods  of  fifteen  minutes  each,  and  a  twenty  minute  period 
for  gymnastics  on  the  roof. 

Wages. — The  average  girl  rarely  earns  more  than  $8  a  week,  but 
it  is  said  that  expert  operators  are  paid  $95  a  month. 

If  one  is  considering  the  work  from  the  point  of  view  of  advising 
young  girls  to  enter  it,  there  seems  to  be  a  great  many  disadvantages 
connected  with  it.  All  the  beginners  are  compelled  to  work  at  night 
until  they  become  expert  enough  to  handle  a  day  board,  and  some- 
times they  are  never  transferred  to  a  day  board.  Work  at  night  is 
always  bad  for  young  girls,  and  in  the  case  of  work  in  telephone 
exchanges  located,  as  many  of  them  must  be,  in  undesirable  parts  of 
the  city,  the  temptations  confronting  the  girls  are  very  great.  More- 
over, the  work  involves  a  continual  nervous  strain  and  the  wages 
are  not  high. 


OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT  39 

LAUNDRIES 

Five  of  the  largest  laundries  in  Chicago  were  visited,  and,  while 
this  is  a  very  small  number  in  proportion  to  the  total,  it  seemed  to 
be  unprofitable  to  continue  the  investigation,  since  it  appeared  to  be 
quite  clear  that  girls  under  sixteen  are  almost  never  employed.  In 
rare  instances  they  may  be  used  for  sewing  on  buttons  and  shaking 
out  clothes,  but  the  trade  is  really  one  for  older  women.  When 
girls  under  sixteen  are  employed  they  are  paid  $4  a  week. 

There  are  great  disadvantages  in  the  trade.  The  long  hours  of 
standing,  the  heat,  and  the  inadequate  ventilation  in  many  laundries 
are  without  doubt  injurious  to  the  health  of  the  girls  who  work  in 
them.  Although  employers  say  that  there  is  no  overtime  work,  it 
seems  to  be  clear  that  the  girls  must  be  capable  of  doubling  the  out- 
put of  work  if  occasion  demands ;  the  girl  who  ordinarily  irons  650 
shirt  bosoms  a  day  must  be  able  to  run  as  many  as  1,000  through  her 
machine  if  business  increases.  The  trade  is  not  well  organized,  and 
the  employers  claim  that  the  work  is  not  uniform  enough  to  justify 
the  establishment  of  a  uniform  wage. 

Nearly  all  of  the  work  is  done  by  machinery  and  is  subdivided 
into  many  branches.  One  shirt  may  go  through  ten  or  twelve  proc- 
esses before  it  is  ready  for  packing. 

The  most  skilled  branch  of  laundry  work  is  "sorting"  which  re- 
quires quite  a  little  intelligence.  This  is  the  process  of  sorting  the 
clothes  according  to  texture  and  color. 

WAGES,  HOURS,  SEASONS 

Wages. — The  usual  wage  for  a  good  sorter  is  $15  a  week.  After 
sorting,  the  hand  ironing  on  fine  dresses  is  the  most  skilled  branch 
of  the  trade.  Hand  ironers  usually  receive  from  $12  to  $15  a  week. 
The  most  skilled  and  highest  paid  machine  work  is  on  shirt  bosoms, 
which  pays  $11  a  week.  The  girls  at  the  mangle  earn  $7  and  $8.  In 
this  process  one  girl  "feeds"  and  one  "receives."  The  girls  on  the 
collar  and  cuff  machine  receive  $5  and  $6. 

The  work  is  usually  paid  on  a  time  basis. 

Hours. — The  hours  are  from  7  :30  a.  m.  to  6  p.  m.  At  10  o'clock 
a  recess  of  fifteen  minutes  is  given  for  lunch,  and  half  an  hour  at  noon. 
There  is  no  work  Monday  morning  or  Saturday  afternoons  when  the 
laundry  is  being  collected  and  delivered,  so  that  there  are  only  five 
working  days. 

The  trade  is  not  seasonal,  but  the  summer  months  are,  of  course, 
the  busiest. 

Though  the  conditions  in  some  laundries  are  good,  it  does  not 
seem  to  be  advisable  for  a  young  girl  to  enter  this  trade.  She  should 
certainly  be  discouraged  from  going  into  work  of  this  sort  until  she 
has  grown  stronger  and  is  better  able  to  endure  the  standing  and  the 
long  hours.  

DYEING  AND  CLEANING 

Dyeing  and  cleaning,  like  laundry  work,  requires  very  strong  girls, 
but  it  has  certain  advantages  over  the  laundry.  The  hours  are  very 
much  shorter,  wages  are  higher,  and  the  general  conditions  are  better. 

Men  are  employed  in  the  cleaning  rooms,  as  the  fumes  from  the 
chemicals  are  too  strong  for  the  girls.     Men  also  press  the  heavier 


40  OPPORTUNITIES   OF  EMPLOYMENT 


garments.  Women  are  employed  in  ironing  and  finishing  the  more 
delicate  garments  and  lace  and  in  sorting  and  marking  the  fabrics. 
The  pressing  is  very  careful  work,  and  a  good  deal  of  skill  is  needed 
to  know  just  the  amount  of  steam  and  pressure  required  for  diiiferent 
kinds  of  fabrics. 

Girls  under  eighteen  are  rarely  employed  and  there  is  no  chance 
in  this  trade  for  girls  under  sixteen.  A  girl  must  have  some  knowl- 
edge of  ironing  to  enter  this  trade,  for  learners  are  never  employed. 

Wages. — ^^lost  of  the  women  employed  earn  about  $10  a  week 
and  probably  none  earn  more  than  $15. 

Hours. — The  hours  are  from  8  a.  m.  to  5  p.  m. 

Seasons. — The  trade  is  not  considered  seasonal.  In  mid-summer 
and  mid-winter  there  is  likely  to  be  less  work,  but  girls  are  rarely 
laid  off. 

HAIRDRESSING    AND    HAIRMAKING 

Of  the  thirty-eight  places  visited,  eleven  only  manufactured  hair, 
wigs,  puffs,  etc. ;  seven  rendered  personal  services  only,  such  as 
shampooing,  hairdressing,  and  manicuring;  and  twenty  were  both 
hairmaking  and  hairdressing  establishments.  Three  establishments 
em.ployed  fifty  girls ;  thirteen  employed  ten  or  more ;  and  twenty-two 
employed  less  than  five.  The  shops  or  factories  which  only  make 
hair  are  so  different  in  the  opportunities  of  employment  offered  from 
those  in  which  hairdressing  is  carried  on  that  it  seems  best  to  con- 
sider them  separately. 

I.     HAIRMAKING  AS  A  SEPARATE  INDUSTRY 

In  the  factories  where  false  hair,  wigs,  etc.,  are  manufactured  the 
work  is  rather  unskilled,  and  each  girl  works  at  one  process.  The 
girls  are  paid  by  the  piece  and  sometimes  earn  as  much  as  $10  a 
week;  but  there  are  slack  seasons  which  make  it  unprofitable  a  good 
part  of  the  year.  In  general  there  is  so  little  opportunity  of  advance- 
ment that  it  cannot  be  considered  a  good  trade  for  girls  to  enter. 

II.     HAIRDRESSING  AND  SHAMPOOING 

In  many  of  the  hairdressing  "parlors"  there  are  openings  for 
girls  to  learn  the  trade.  In  some  shops  a  beginner  is  paid,  but  her 
wages  range  from  carfare  to  $2  a  week ;  others  pay  nothing  for  three 
months  and  a  few  shops  charge  a  regular  stipulated  sum  for  the  first 
six  months  of  apprenticeship.  Managers  say  that  it  takes  from  two 
to  three  years  to  learn  the  trade  thoroughly  in  one  of  these  shops. 
There  are  several  schools  in  the  city  where  hairdressing,  manicuring, 
facial  massage,  etc.,  are  taught,  but  as  a  rule  the  tuition  is  rather  high. 

Girls  should  not  be  encouraged  to  go  into  this  trade,  however, 
unless  they  are  very  neat  in  their  dress  and  personal  habits_  and 
unless  they  can  be  taken  into  the  best  shops,  where  the  work  is  on 
the  whole  light  and  pleasant.  A  girl  who  is  tall  and  strong  as  well 
as  neat  makes  the  best  worker.  Great  care  should  be  taken  to  place 
a  girl  in  a  shop  where  the  influences  are  sure  to  be  good,  for  condi- 
tions in  the  lower-grade  shops  are  most  unfavorable. 

Wages. — Girls  who  are  more  or  less  expert  in  this  line  of  work 
can  earn  from  $10  to  $25  a  week,  but  very  few  receive  more  than  $15. 

Seasons. — The  work  is  not  seasonal. 

Hours. — The  hours  vary  in  different  shops.  There  is  usually  a 
nine-hour  day. 


PUBLIC   CARE    OF    WORKING-CHILDREN 
IN  ENGLAND  AND  GERMANY 


SOME   NOTES   ON   JUVENILE  LABOUR   EXCHANGES* 

EDITH  ABBOTT 


In  the  first  part  of  this  report,  we  emphasized  the  fact  that  in 
Chicago  no  organized  work  is  being  done  at  the  present  time  to  pre- 
vent the  wastage  that  comes  from  the  child's  walking  the  streets  in 
search  of  a  job  and  still  more  from  his  haphazard  choice  of  Avork.  It 
has  seemed  therefore  appropriate  to  give  a  brief  account  here  of  some 
important  work  in  this  direction  that  is  being  done  in  England  and 
Germany.  Although  in  both  of  these  countries  the  work  is  now 
carried  on  chiefly  by  national,  state,  or  municipal  authorities,  very 
valuable  experimental  work  was  carried  on  by  private  organizations 
for  many  years  before  the  State  realized  what  a  serious  problem  it  was 
facing.  Several  years  ago,  the  Women's  University  Settlement  in 
London  began  to  help  crippled  or  handicapped  children  to  find  suitable 
work;  and  out  of  this  grew  a  so-called  "skilled  employment  com- 
mittee" which  undertook  to  find  work  for  normal  children  also. 
The  work  done  by  this  committee  proved  to  be  so  valuable  that  the 
Charity  Organization  Society  began  to  form  apprenticeship  and  skilled 
employment  committees  in  connection  with  the  work  of  its  various 
district  offices.  In  time  these  committees  became  organized  into  an 
independent  society,  the  Apprenticeship  and  Skilled  Employment  As- 
sociation, an  organization  which  has  undoubtedly  been  largely  respon- 
sible for  focusing  attention  on  the  need  of  public  protection  for  the 
child  just  leaving  school  to  go  to  work.  The  establishment  of  a 
national  system  of  labour  exchanges  with  juvenile  departments  has 
meant  the  development  of  the  work  of  advising  children  and  finding 
suitable  vacancies  on  a  much  larger  scale  than  was  possible  with  any 
private  organization ;  but  the  association  still  finds  a  large  field  for 
supplementary  work  and  still  maintains  some  twenty-one  committees. 
in  the  different  parts  of  London.^ 

*  These  notes  were  made  during  two  visits  to  England  in  successive  sum- 
mers, 1910  and  1911,  and  a  visit  to  several  German  cities  in  which  interesting 
experiments  were  being  made.     (E.  A.) 

^  It  is  not  possible  in  a  brief  note  to  give  any  adequate  account  of  these 
committees,  of  the  thorough  and  careful  work  done  for  each  child,  of  the  con- 
stant supervision  of  the  child  who  has  been  placed,  of  the  admirable  handbooks 
the  Central  Committee  has  issued,  and  of  the  other  intelligent  and  v/ell-organ- 
ized  work  that  is  done.  See,  for  example,  Trades  for  London  Boys  and  How 
to  Enter  Them,  and  Trades  for  London  Girls  and  How  to  Enter  Them;  com- 
piled by  the  Apprenticeship  and  Skilled  Employment  Association.  See  also 
The  Work  of  an  Apprenticeship  Committee  (Leaflet  8  pp.)  by  ]\I.  K.  Bradby, 
and  Suggestions  to  Skilled  Employment  Committees  Newly  Starting  (Leaflet), 
as  well  as  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Association.  All  of  these  may  be 
obtained  from  the  Headquarters  of  the  Association,  Denison  House,  Vauxhall 
Bridge  Road,  London,  S.  W. 

41 


42  JUVENILE   LABOUR   EXCHANGES 

During  the  last  few  years,  it  has  become  customary  in  England  to 
trace  the  problem  of  unemployment,  which  has  reached  so  acute  a 
stage  in  that  country,  directly  to  the  neglect  of  boy  labour.  The 
Majority  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Poor  Laws  in  1909 
called  boy  labour  "the  most  serious  of  the  phenomena  which  we  have 
encountered  in  our  study  of  unemployment."^  The  Minority  agreed 
with  the  Majority  on  this  point  and  pointed  out  that  "one  of  the  most 
prolific  sources  of  casual  labour  with  its  evil  of  chronic  under- 
employment, is  the  employment  of  boys  in  occupations  which  afford 
them  no  industrial  training,  and  which,  whilst  providing  them  with 
relatively  high  wages  during  youth,  leaves  them  stranded  when  they 
reach  manhood."  ^  Both  reports  quote  from  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Sid- 
ney Webb  of  the  London  County  Council,  who  was  called  before  the 
Commission  to  give  evidence  on  this  point.  He  spoke  of  "the  growing- 
up  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  boys  without  any  sort  of  industrial 
training,  specialized  or  unspecialized,  as  a  perpetual  creating  of  a 
future  pauperism  and  a  grave  menace ;"  and  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  even  when  parents  were  anxious  to  give  their  boys  a  good  start  in 
life,  they  faced  "the  difficulty  of  discovering  any  situation  in  which 
the  boy  can  become  a  skilled  worker  of  any  kind,  or  even  enter  the 
services  of  an  employer  who  can  offer  him  advancement.  We  have, 
on  the  one  hand,  a  great  development  of  employment  for  boys  of  a 
thoroughly  bad  type,  yielding  high  wages  and  no  training.  We  have, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  positive  shrinkage — almost  a  disappearance — of 
places  for  boys  in  which  they  are  trained  to  become  competent  men."  ^ 

THE  ENGLISH  LABOUR  EXCHANGES  IN  RELATION  TO  BOYS  AND  GIRLS 

With  such  definite  recommendations  from  the  Commission  it  was 
not  possible  in  England  to  make  any  definite  plan  for  dealing  with 
unemployment  unless  there  were  included  as  an  integral  part  of  that 
plan  some  proposals  for  dealing  on  a  large  scale  with  children  who 
were  going  into  unskilled  trades  and  ultimately  drifting  into  the  casual 
labour  market.^  It  was  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  when  the  national 

2  See  the  Majority  Report,  Part  VI,  Chap.  I,  Sec.  141. 

^Minority  Report   (Longman's  edition),  II,  269. 

*  Quoted  from  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Sidney  Webb,  Majority  Report,  Part 
VI,  Chap.  I,  Sec.  142.     See  also  Minority  Report  (Longman's  edition),  II,  269. 

^  A  very  important  contribution  to  this  subject  was  also  made  by  Mr.  W.  H. 
Beveridge  (the  present  head  of  the  Labour  Exchanges)  in  his  very  widely-read 
book,  Unemployment:  A  Problem  of  Industry.  See,  for  example,  p.  212,  as 
follows:  "There  can  be  no  question  but  that  unemployment  today  is  swollen 
as  a  consequence  of  some  of  the  conditions  of  youthful  labour.  In  any  thorough- 
going attack  upon  unemployment  there  must  be  included,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
better  guidance  of  boys  and  girls  in  the  choice  of  careers  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  extension  of  industrial  training."  Mr.  Beveridge  also  plainly  pre- 
shadowed  the  possible  field  for  a  national  labour  exchange  in  the  solution  of 
the  problem  of  boy  and  girl  labour.  "The  guidance  of  boys  and  girls  in  the 
■  choice  of  careers  means  simply  the  extension  of  labour  market  organization  in 
connection  with  the  schools.  It  means  substituting  for  the  haphazard  entry 
into  industrial  life — the  taking  of  the  first  job  that  offers — entry  informed  by 
wider  knowledge  of  possibilities  and  prospects.  Moreover,  in  order  to  be  ef- 
fective this  guidance  must  be  fairly  general.  It  implies  a  juvenile  Labour  Ex- 
change dealing  with  a  substantial  portion  both  of  the  supply  and  of  the  demand 
for  boys  and  not  one  starting  out  with  the  ideas  of  rigidly  proscribing  all  but 
/  the  best  employments.  No  general  effect  can  be  produced  by  sending  a  few 
'  selected  boys  to  the  best  employers  and  ignoring  all  the  other  employers.  The 
latter  simply  get  their  boys  in  other  ways;  the  evil  is  ignored  not  cured.    So  long 


JUVENILE  LABOUR  EXCHANGES  43 

system  of  labour  exchanges  was  organized  some  special  provision 
would  be  made  for  dealing  with  juvenile  labour.  Separate  juvenile  de- 
partments were  immediately  established  wherever  a  local  exchange 
was  opened.  This  meant  that  the  nation  was  undertaking  to  do  on  a 
large  scale  what  the  Skilled  Employment  Association  had  been  doing 
on  a  much  smaller  scale  through  private  funds. 

The  establishment  of  a  juvenile  department  in  a  labour  exchange, 
however,  will  not  in  itself  protect  the  children  who  are  going  to  work. 
The  closest  co-operation  with  the  schools  is  absolutely  essential.  In 
England  ever  since  Parliament  passed  the  Education  (Choice  of  Em- 
ployment) Act  in  November,  1910,  the  local  education  authorities  have 
had  "power  to  make  arrangements,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
National  Board  of  Education,  for  giving  to  boys  and  girls  under 
seventeen  years  of  age  assistance  with  respect  to  the  choice  of  suitable 
employment  by  means  of  the  collection  and  the  communication  of 
information  and  the  furnishing  of  advice;  and  on  January  3,  1911,  the 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Education  issued  a  joint  memorandum  outlining  a  scheme  which 
provided  for  co-operation  between  local  authorities  exercising  their 
powers  under  the  new  Act  and  the  Board  of  Trade  working  through 
the  Labour  Exchanges." 

CO-OPERATION   BETWEEN  THE   BOARD  OF  TRADE   (LABOUR  EXCHANGES)   AND 

LONDON  COUNTY  COUNCIL 

A  report  issued  March  23,  1911,  by  the  Education  Committee  of 
the  London  County  Council  on  the  subject  of  After-Care  and  Juvenile 
Employment  ^  shows  how  much  careful  attention  has  been  given  to 
this  problem.  In  this  report  the  purpose  of  the  Juvenile  Advisory 
Committees  which  are  under  the  joint  direction  of  the  London  County 
Council  and  the  Board  of  Trade  is  explained  as  follows : 

(a)  "To  see  that  the  children  on  leaving  school  enter,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  trades  for  which  they  are  best  suited.  This  involves  a 
knowledge  of  the  child's  educational  qualifications,  physical  condition, 
and  his  own  and  his  parents'  wishes  as  to  employment. 

(b)  "To  see  that  children  who  enter  "blind-alley"  employment 
qualify  themselves  when  possible  to  undertake  other  work  by  attend- 
ance at  evening  continuation  schools  and  classes,  clubs  and  similar 
societies. 

(c)  "To  provide  for  each  child  who  is  in  need  of  advice  and 
guidance  a  friend,  who  will  endeavor  to  keep  the  child  in  touch  with 
healthy  ideals  and  pursuits  and  watch  over  his  industrial  progress." 

The  final  sentence  of  the  memorandum  should  also  be  quoted :  "as 
this  system  is  perfected  the  parents  of  all  children  should  have  the 
opportunity  of  obtaining  expert  advice  as  to  suitable  openings,  while 

as  "blind-alley"  openings  for  boys  are  not  absolutely  illegal — which  they  never 
can  be — the  choice  of  them  can  only  be  discouraged  generally  by  bringing  them 
into  direct  competition  with  better  openings  at  a  general  Exchange.  A  boy 
choosing  a  career  now  often  becomes  a  vanboy  without  ever  having  any  idea 
that  better  careers  are  possible.  If  he  came  to  an  Exchange  he  might  still  be- 
come a  vanboy,  but  he  would  at  least  learn  that  other  occupations  existed,  and 
he  might  be  advised — he  could  not  be  compelled — to  choose  them."  W.  H. 
Beveridge,  Unemployment:   a   Problem  of  Industry,  p.  212. 

«  Report  No.  5443. 


44  JUVENILE  LABOUR  EXCHANGES 

the  future  of  every  child  will  be  a  matter  of  active  concern  to  those 
who  have  been  interested  in  his  education." 

An  American  observer  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  serious 
and  careful  attention  which  has  been  given  both  by  the  Board  of  Trade 
acting  through  the  Labour  Exchanges  and  the  London  County  Council 
acting  through  its  Educational  Committee  to  working  out  the  details 
of  this  great  plan  of  protecting  the  industrial  future  of  the  children  of 
London,  involving  as  it  does  the  supervision,  during  the  first  three 
years  of  their  working  lives,  of  the  vast  majority  of  children  who  leave 
the  elementary  schools.  The  work  is  obviously  still  in  an  experimental 
stage  but  the  following  outline  will  serve  to  show  how  thoroughly 
the  details  of  method  are  being  worked  out.''' 

L  At  a  convenient  date  before  a  child  is  expected  to  leave  school 
the  head  teacher  prepares  a  school-leaving  form  which  gives  informa- 
tion regardino-  the  child's  record  in  school  and  fitness  for  work.  Care 
is  taken  not  to  disturb  the  child  by  inquiries  which  may  suggest  to 
him  the  possibility  of  leaving  school  before  it  is  absolutely  necessary. 

2.  The  parents  of  the  child  are  either  seen  at  the  school  or  visited 
by  a  member  of  the  children's  care  committee  connected  with  the 
school  in  order  to  discover  whether 

(a)  there  is  any  need  for  outside  advice ; 

(b)  any  friendly  oversight  is  likely  to  be  necessary. 

3.  In  all  cases  where  the  parents  do  not  wish  to  make  use  of  the 
local  juvenile  advisory  committee  or  other  agency,  and  there  is  no  need 
for  supervision,  the  form  is  filed  at  the  school. 

4.  In  the  remaining  cases  the  child  is  referred,  and  the  school- 
leaving  form  sent  to  the  local  juvenile  advisory  committee  or  other 
employment  agency  (e.  g.,  Metropolitan  Association  for  Befriending 
Young  Servants,  Apprenticeship  and  Skilled  Employment  Association, 
etc.). 

5.  In  all  cases  where  it  has  been  considered  advisable  to  arrange 
for  friendly  oversight,  someone  (e.  g.,  from  among  managers  of  boys' 
and  girls'  clubs,  settlement  or  church  workers)  is  found  by  the  chil- 
dren's care  committee  to  undertake  this  duty. 

6.  In  cases  where  children  are  not  placed  through  the  local  juve- 
nile advisory  committee  an  extra  copy  of  the  school-leaving  form  is 
kept  at  the  school,  and  it  can  be  sent  to  the  local  juvenile  advisory 
committee  should  the  child  subsequently  (i.  e.  during  the  next  three 
or  four  years)  apply  for  work  at  the  labour  exchange. 

7.  The  local  juvenile  advisory  committees  have  arranged  sub- 
committees of  their  members,  which  meet  on  several  days  during  the 
week  (either  in  the  morning,  afternoon  or  evening),  at  which  meetings 
the  children  are,  in  suitable  cases,  encouraged  to  attend  with  their 
parents  immediately  on  leaving  school. 

8.  The  secretary  of  the  local  juvenile  advisory  committees  makes 
inquiries  as  to  the  reported  vacancies  for  boys  and  girls. 

The  powers  conferred  on  the  local  boards  of  education  by  the 
Choice  of  Employment  Act,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  have 
been  used  not  merely  in  London  but  in  a  large  number  of  cities  in 
different  parts  of  England.  A  recent  circular  issued  on  the  17th  of 
of  last  August  by  the'national  Board  of  Education^  calls  the  attention 

■^  This  outline  is  quoted  almost  verbatim  from  After-Care  and  Juvenile  Em- 
ployment, p.  5. 
8  Circular  782. 


JUVENILE  LABOUR   EXCHANGES  45 

of  the  Local  Education  Authorities  "to  the  very  great  importance  of 
the  field  of  activity  open  to  them  under  this  Act."  The  Board  points 
out  that  although  in  many  places  "much  valuable  work  has  been  and 
is  being  done  by  voluntary  agencies  and  by  individuals  in  giving 
advice,  information  and  assistance  to  boys  and  girls  during  the  critical 
period  covering  the  end  of  their  school  career  and  the  beginning  and 
earlier  years  of  their  employment,"  that  such  activities,  "though  wide- 
spread, are  as  yet  by  no  means  universal ;  and  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Board  it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  in  urban  areas,  and,  where 
possible,  in  county  areas.  Local  Education  Authorities,  should  take  the 
opportunity  afforded  by  the  Act  of  initiating  such  work  where  it  is 
not  at  present  carried  on,  of  co-ordinating  and  organizing  the  existing 
voluntary  agencies  in  a  single  coherent  scheme,  and  of  linking  the 
whole  with  the  work  of  the  juvenile  departments  of  Labour  Exchanges 
in  such  a  way  that  the  moral  and  educational  influences,  which  natu- 
rally center  round  Elementary  Schools  and  Continuation  Schools, 
should  play  their  proper  part  in  the  transition  from  school  life  to  the 
life  of  adult  employment."  The  circular  also  suggests  that  the  exer- 
cise of  powers  under  the  Choice  of  Employment  Act  should  be  en- 
trusted to  a  committee  of  the  Local  Education  Authority  and  that 
"in  constituting  the  Sub-Committee  provision  should  be  made  for 
securing  an  adequate  number  of  members  possessing  experience  or 
knowledge  of  educational  and  industrial  conditions."  The  work  of 
these  sub-committees  in  the  various  cities  is  also  outlined  in  this  care- 
fully prepared  document.    Their  duties  are  said  to  be : 

(a)  "To  arrange  for  suitable  information  and  advice  with  regard 
to  the  choice  of  employment  to  be  given  to  boys  and  girls,  directly  or 
through  their  parents,  both  before  and  after  they  leave  school. 

(b)  "To  co-operate  with  the  Local  Labour  Exchange  Officers  in 
registering  applications  of  boys  and  girls  for  employment,  and  in 
selecting  applicants  for  suitable  vacancies. 

(c)  "To  advise  the  Board  of  Trade  with  regard  to  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Labour  Exchange  in  relation  to  juvenile  applicants  for 
employment." 

"In  carrying  out  their  duties  the  Sub-Committee  shall 

(a)  "Take  every  opportunity  of  encouraging  boys  and  girls  to 
continue  their  education  after  leaving  the  Elementary  School. 

(b)  "Study  the  conditions  of  employments  as  these  afifect  the 
prospects  of  boys  and  girls  and  the  need  and  facilities  for  continued 
education  ;  for  which  purpose  the  officers  of  the  Labour  Exchanges  will 
furnish  the  Sub-Committee  with  all  the  information  in  their  power 
with  regard  to  the  prospects  and  conditions  of  employments. 

(c)  "Use  as  far  as  possible  the  services  of  Apprenticeship  Com- 
mittees and  other  organizations  for  promoting  the  welfare  of  boys  and 
girls,  and  of  individual  voluntary  workers ;  for  which  purpose  they 
may,  where  they  think  fit,  organize  Care  Committees  or  After-Care 
Committees  of  Teachers,  School  Managers,  and  others,  whose  duty  it 
shall  be  to  keep  in  individual  touch  with  boys  and  girls  both  before 
and  after  they  leave  School." 

CO-OPERATION  BETWEEN  THE  EDUCATION  COMMITTEE  AND  THE  BOARD  OF 
TRADE  (LABOUR  EXCHANGE)  IN  BIRMINGHAM 

Some  of  the  large  provincial  towns  of  England  already  had  care- 
fully prepared  plans  under  way  before  the  circular  of  the  Board  of 


46  JUVENILE  LABOUR   EXCHANGES 

Education  was  issued.  In  Birmingham,  a  city  of  570,113  inhabitants, 
the  Eckication  Committee  had  pul^lished  in  the  autumn  of  1910,  an 
extremely  interesting  report  on  the  Institution  of  a  Juvenile  Employ- 
ment Bureau  in  Birmingham.  This  report,  which  was  adopted  by  the 
Education  Committee,  provided  for  the  closest  co-operation  between 
the  schools  and  the  Juvenile  Department  of  the  Labour  Exchange.  It 
was  pointed  out  on  the  one  hand  that  the  school  authorities  were  in  a 
peculiarly  favorable  position  for  giving  information  and  advice  about 
the  children  who  wanted  work,  and  tliat  subsequent  supervision  "in 
advising  children  to  go  to  evening  classes,  properly  concerns  the 
education  authority  which  also  needs  the  fresh  knowledge  so  gained 
to  keep  such  classes  and  technical  schools  abreast  the  needs  of  the 
times ;"  on  the  other  hand  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  necessary  inves- 
tigation of  industrial  conditions  and  the  collection  of  information 
regarding  vacant  situations  was  properly  the  work  of  the  Board  of 
Trade.  The  scheme  which  was  adopted  proposed  therefore  a  Chil- 
dren's Employment  Bureau  under  the  joint  control  of  the  Education 
Committee  and  the  Board  of  Trade,  the  work  of  the  Bureau  to  be  car- 
ried on  in  offices  provided  by  the  Education  Committee. 

METHODS  OF  EMPLOYMENT  SUPERVISION  IN  LEEDS,  DEWSBURY  AND 

HALIFAX   (YORKSHIRE) 

In  Leeds,  a  great  industrial  city  in  the  north  of  England,  with 
490,985  inhabitants,  a  still  different  system  exists.  There  no  child  is 
given  an  employment  certificate  until  a  job  has  already  been  found 
for  him :  that  is,  the  employment  certificate  must  be  actually  signed 
by  an  employer  who  pledges  himself  to  give  employment  to  the  child 
before  the  Education  Office  will  officially  issue  the  certificate.  The 
Juvenile  Department  of  the  Labour  Exchange  has  a  special  office  op- 
posite the  Education  Office,  where  the  work  certificates  are  issued,  and 
every  child,  and  frequently  the  parents  of  the  child  as  well,  comes  to 
the  Juvenile  Exchange  as  a  matter  of  course  before  the  certificate  is 
issued. 

At  Dewsbury,  a  smaller  town  in  Yorkshire,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Juvenile  Advisory  Committee  visits  every  elementary  school  once  in 
three  months  to  register  all  of  the  children  who  are  within  three 
months  of  the  school-leaving  age.  "The  great  advantage  of  this  sys- 
tem of  registration  is  that  it  brings  the  Secretary  into  touch  with  every 
child  about  to  leave  school.  When  registering  the  children  the  Sec- 
retary is  very  careful  not  to  suggest  employment  but  points  out  the 
advantage  of  remaining  at  school." 

In  Halifax,  a  Yorkshire  town  near  Leeds,  another  interesting  sys- 
tem has  been  worked  out  which  follows  the  plan  of  interviewing  the 
child  and  the  parents  if  possible  before  the  child  has  actually  left  school 
or  even  determined  to  leave,  so  that  the  advantages  of  a  longer  period 
of  school  attendance  may  be  presented.  The  Secretary  of  the  Juvenile 
Advisory  Committee  of  the  public  Labour  Exchange  makes  periodical 
visits  to  the  school  to  interview  children  before  they  actually  reach 
the  school-leaving  age  and  to  advise  with  them,  with  their  parents,  and 
with  their  teachers  as  to  the  best  available  vacancy  for  them  when 
they  do  leave. 


JUVENILE   LABOUR   EXCHANGES  47 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  INFORMATION  AND  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  OF 

EDINBURGH 

In  1908,  the  school  boards  of  Scotland  were  empowered  by  Parlia- 
ment to  make  appropriations  for  the  establishment  of  agencies  "for 
collecting  and  distributing  information  as  to  employments  open  to 
children  on  leaving  school."  The  Edinburgh  School  Board  drew 
up  a  scheme  almost  immediately  which  provided  for  an  Educational 
Information  and  Employment  Bureau  to  be  opened  in  the  School 
Board  offices  under  the  direction  of  a  standing  committee  of 
seven  members  of  the  Board  and  an  advisory  committee  "consist- 
ing of  the  Members  of  the  School  Board  and  such  representatives  of 
public  bodies  and  trade  associations  as  the  Board  may  from  time  to 
time  co-opt,  due  regard  being  had  to  securing  representation  of  the 
principal  trades  and  of  women's  occupations.'"'* 

The  duties  of  the  Director  of  the  Bureau  were  outlined  in  the 
original  scheme  as  follows: 

(a)  "To  interview  boys  and  girls  and  their  parents  or  guardians 
and  advise  them  with  regard  to  further  educational  courses  and  most 
suitable  occupations. 

(b)  "To  prepare  leaflets  and  pamphlets  or  tabulated  matter  giv- 
ing information  to  the  scholars  about  continuation  work. 

(c)  "To  keep  in  touch  with  the  general  requirements  of  em- 
ployers and  revise  from  time  to  time  the  statistics  about  employment. 

(d)  "To  prepare  and  revise  periodically  statements  of  the  trades 
and  industries  of  the  district,  with  rates  of  wages  and  conditions  of 
employment. 

(e)  "To  keep  a  record  of  vacancies  intimated  by  employers,  and 
to  arrange  for  suitable  candidates  having  an  opportunity  of  applying 
for  such  vacancies. 

(f)  "To  report  periodically  on  the  work  of  the  Bureau."  ^"^ 

JUVENILE  LABOUR   EXCHANGES  AND  CONTINUATION   SCHOOLS   IN  GERMANY 

In  Germany  it  is  "the  fear  of  the  future,"  rather  than  present  dire 
conditions  of  unemployment,  that  has  led  to  the  various  efforts  which 
have  been  made  to  conserve  the  first  working-years  of  the  men  and 
women  on  whom  the  future  of  the  state  is  to  depend.  A  recent  report 
to  the  London  County  Council  on  methods  of  dealing  with  Juvenile 
Labour  in  Germany  explained  that  in  different  German  cities,  the 
matter  of  boy  and  girl  labour  was  "receiving  attention  not  only  for 
the  sake  of  the  individual  prosperity  of  the  town  concerned,  but  as 
part  of  the  national  policy  of  securing  the  future  greatness  and  pros- 
perity of  the  Empire." 

In  most  of  the  large  German  cities  a  close  system  of  co-operation 
has  been  worked  out  between  the  labour  exchange,  the  schools  and  the 
Handwerkerskammer.  The  survival  of  the  apprenticeship  system 
with  the  supervisory  control  of  apprentices  by  the  Handwerkerskam- 
mer has  simplified  the  problem  of  dealing  with  boy  labour.  The  most 
important  factor  in  the  German  situation,  however,  is  the  system  of 
continuation  schools  at  which  attendance  has  been  made  compulsory 
in  so  many  parts  of  the  empire.    A  system  of  compulsory  attendance 

"  Frederic   Keeling,  The   Labour  Exchange   in  relation  to  Boy  and  Girl 
Labour,  p.  30. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  31. 


48  JUVENILE  LABOUR   EXCHANGES 

upon  such  schools  means  that  the  schools  automatically  retain  con- 
trol over  the  children  after  they  go  to  work,  they  know  whether  the 
children  are  employed  or  not,  and,  if  employed,  where  they  are  work- 
ing and  what  kind  of  work  they  are  doing,  j^  Where,  as  in  many  cities, 
the  continuation  schools  are  fast  developing  into  trade  schools,  the 
school  is  also  making  a  positive  contribution  to  the  child's  industrial 
development.  The  London  County  Council  Report  on  Juvenile  Labour 
in  Germany,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  declares  that  "the 
imperial  law  for  compulsory  continuation  schools  is  by  far  the  most 
important  contribution  that  has  been  made  to  the  problem  of  boy; 
labour  in  Germany."  The  report  also  calls  attention  to  a  memorandum 
issued  in  1908  by  the  Minister  of  Commerce  and  Industry  which  "lays 
special  stress  on  the  importance  of  after-care  work  among  youths  and 
girls  who  have  left  school,  and  says  that,  much  as  can  be  achieved  by 
compulsory  attendance  at  a  continuation  school,  the  work  cannot  be 
successful  without  voluntary  friendly  aid.  He  urges  the  formation  of 
after-care  committees,  in  which  educational  authorities  and  teachers 
as  well  as  other  volunteers  should  be  associated  in  social  friendly  work 
with  the  youth,  and  encourages  the  establishing  of  reading  rooms, 
free  libraries,  boys'  clubs  and  recreative  evening  classes." 

This  statement  regarding  the  work  of  the  public  authorities  in 
England  and  Germany  in  behalf  of  children  leaving  school  to  go  to 
work  has  been  necessarily  made  in  very  brief  compass  for  this  report. 
It  is  hoped,  however,  that  the  account  has  been  sufficiently  detailed  to 
show  that,  although  a  great  variety  of  methods  are  being  worked  out, 
the  important  fact  is  that,  whatever  the  method,  the  care  and  super- 
vision of  juvenile  labour  both  in  England  and  Germany  is  looked  upon 
as  a  national  responsibility;  and  however  that  responsibility  be  divided 
among  labour  exchanges,  school  authorities,  private  philanthropies, 
societies  or  industrial  organizations  like  the  German  Handwerkers- 
kammer,  and  no  matter  whether  exercised  by  local  or  national  authori- 
ties, it  is  universally  recognized  that  the  care  of  the  working-child 
must  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  State. 


TRADE  AND  TECHNICAL  CLASSES  FOR 
GIRLS  IN  CHICAGO 


The  opening  of  the  Lucy  L.  Flower  Technical  High  School  in 
September  of  this  year  is  an  event  of  such  importance  to  those  inter- 
ested in  the  better  training  of  girls  for  wage-earning  that  we  feel  sure 
the  somewhat  detailed  account  of  the  work  of  the  school,  which  has 
been  kindly  furnished  by  the  principal,  Miss  Dora  Wells,  will  be  of 
interest  and  value.  Attention  should,  however,  be  called  to  the  fact 
that  this  school  is  almost  exclusively  for  grammar-school  graduates 
and  leaves  the  little  girl  from  the  lower  grades — the  girl  with  whom 
this  report  is  chiefly  concerned — still  largely  unprovided  for. 

LUCY    L.    FLOWER   TECHNICAL   HIGH   SCHOOL 

The  courses  of  study  which  are  offered  in  the  Lucy  L.  Flower 
Technical  High  School  are  designed  to  give  girls  a  technical  training 
in  the  fundamental  employments  of  women  which  shall  parallel  the 
training  given  in  the  technical  high  schools  open  only  to  boys.  The 
curriculum  contains  a  four-year  course  of  study  which  will  meet  the 
entrance  requirements  for  the  course  in  Household  Arts  and  Science 
at  the  Chicago  Teachers'  College,  and  prepare  students  for  the  scien- 
tific courses  of  non-professional  colleges. 

There  is  also  a  two-year  course  arranged  so  as  to  give  such  prepara- 
tion as  is  possible  in  that  length  of  time  to  girls  who  must  become 
self-supporting"  at  an  early  age. 

The  more  advanced  and  specialized  work  in  the  Departments  of 
Household  Science  and  Household  Arts  will  prepare  young  women 
for  managing  institutional  kitchens  and  lunch  rooms,  for  dressmaking 
and  millinery,  and  in  general  for  applying  their  knowledge  and  train- 
ing in  activities  that  will  be  financially  remunerative. 

For  those  whose  tastes  do  not  lie  in  the  field  of  household  activi- 
ties, the  school  authorities  intend  to  supply  training  in  other  occu- 
pations, so  that  girls  who  need  or  desire  to  become  wage-earners  out- 
side the  home  may  have  a  marketable  skill  in  some  healthful  employ- 
ment suitable  for  women.  At  the  present  time,  photography,  type- 
setting, bookbinding,  and  other  crafts  which  require  both  artistic  and 
manual  dexterity  are  under  consideration  for  this  end.  It  is  the 
intention  of  the  school  management  to  extend  the  course  of  study 
to  two  years  of  graduate  work  which  shall  be  of  college  rank  and 
quality. 

At  present  the  school  contains  a  limited  number  of  girls  who 
have  been  admitted  by  examination  from  the  4th,  5th,  6th,  and  7th 
grades  of  the  public  elementary  schools  of  Chicago.  These  girls  are 
for  the  most  part  those  who  for  one  reason  or  another  are  behind 
the  average  girl  of  their  age  in  acquirement.  To  these  girls  a  large 
amount  of  motor  work  is  given,  in  the  hope  that  they  will  respond 
to  such  stimulus  more  readily  than  they  have  responded  to  the  more 
generally  academic  instruction  of  the  regular  elementary  schools.  The 
pleasure  and  interest  which  these  girls  take  in  the  more  active  em- 
ployments offered  to  them  is  evident,  and  a  resulting  quickening  along 
academic  lines  is  beginning  to  be  apparent. 

The  classes  in  dressmaking  and  millinery  listed  below  are  chiefly 
domestic  and  not  trade  classes,  that  is,  they  are  classes  which  teach 
girls  how  to  make  their  own  blouses  and  trim  their  own  hats  but  do 
not  train  them  for  work  in  a  shop. 

49 


so  LIST    OF    TRADE    CLASSES 

EVENING    TECHNICAL    CLASSES    IN    THE    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS 

The  schools  are  open  two  hours  an  evening  from  7:30  to  9:30 
on  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday  and  Thursday  of  each  week. 

SEWING. — This  course  includes  hand  sewing,  use  and  care  of 
the  sewing-machine,  exercises  in  making  patterns,  fitting  and  design- 
ing, and  talks  on  the  elements  of  good  taste  in  dressing,  selection  of 
suitable  material,  calculation  of  amount  necessary,  and  the  proper 
laundering  of  the  garments. 

Bowen,  89th  Street  and  Manistee  Avenue;  Burley,  Barry  Avenue  near 
Ashland;  Burns,  25th  Street  and  IVabansia  Avenue;  Burr,  Ashland  and 
Wabansia  Avenues;  Dante,  DesPlaines  and  Forquer  Streets;  Foster,  Union 
and  O'Brien  Streets;  Froebel,  21st  and  Robey  Streets;  Garfield,  Johnson 
Street  and  11th  Place;  Goethe,  Rockwell  Street  between  Fullerton  and  Mil- 
waukee Avenues;  Hamline,  48th  and  Bishop  Streets;  Jackson,  Sholto  and 
Better  Streets;  Lake,  47th  Place  and  Union  Avenue;  Lane,  Division  and 
Sedgwick  Streets;  McAllister,  36th.  and  Gage  Streets;  Medill,  14th  Place 
near  Throop;  Nash,  49th  Avenue  and  Erie  Street;  Phillips,  39th  Street 
and  Prairie  Avenue;  Pullman,  Morse  Avenue  and  113th  Street;  Walsh, 
20th  and  Johnson  Streets;  Washington,  Morgan  Street  and  Grand  Avenue. 

MILLINERY. — Trade  millinery  is  taught.  Practical  milliners 
have  charge  of  these  classes. 

Crane  Technical  High  School,  Oakley  Avenue  and  Vanburen  Street; 
Englewood  High  School,  62d  Street  and  Stewart  Avenue;  Lake  High 
School,  47th  Place  and  Union  Avenue;  Lane  Technical  High  School, 
Division  and  Sedgwick  Streets;  Phillips,  39th  Street  and  Prairie  Avenue. 

STENOGRAPHY.— The  progress  of  the  pupils  in  this  course 
depends  largely  on  their  previous  preparation. 

Bowen,  89th  Street  and  Manistee  Avenue;  Crane,  Oakley  Avenue  and 
Vanburen  Street;  Burr,  Ashland  and  Wabansia  Avenue;  Englewood, 
Stewart  Avenue  and  62d  Street;  Foster,  Union  and  O'Brien  Streets; 
Goethe,  Rockwell  Street  between  Fullerton  and  Milwaukee  Avenues;  Lake, 
47th  Place  and  Union  Avenue;  Lane,  Division  and  Sedgwick  Streets;  Medill, 
14th  Place  near  Throop  Street;  Phillips,  39th  Street  and  Prairie  Avenue; 
Pullman,  113th  Street  and  Morse  Avenue;  Tuley,  Potomac  and  N.  Clare- 
mont  Avenues;  Waller,  Orchard  and  Center  Streets;  Washington,  Morgan 
Street  and  Grand  Avenue. 

TYPEWRITING. — Special  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  course  in 
typewriting,  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  growing  demand 
for  typewriter  operators,  irrespective  of  whether  or  not  they  are  also 
stenographers.  Instruction  will  be  given  in  the  proper  use  of  the 
machine,  spacing,  capitalizing,  fingering  the  keys,  words  and  exer- 
cises, gradually  introducing  the  use  of  the  entire  keyboard. 

Bowen,  89th  Street  and  Manistee  Avenue;  Crane,  Oakley  Avenue  and 
Vanburen  Street;  Burr,  Ashland  and  Wabansia  Avenues;  Englewood, 
Stewart  Avenue  and  62d  Street;  Foster,  Union  and  O'Brien  Streets;  Goethe, 
Rockwell  Street  betiveen  Fullerton  and  Mihvaukee  Avenues;  Lake,  47th 
Place  and  Union  Avenue;  Lane,  Division  and  Sedgwick  Streets;  McAllister, 
36th  and  Gage  Streets;  Medill,  14th  Place  near  Throop  Street;  Phillips, 
39th.  Street  and  Prairie  Avenue;  Pullman,  Morse  Avenue  and  113th  Street; 


LIST    OF   TRADE    CLASSES  51 

Scammon,  Morgan  and  Monroe  Streets;  Tuley,  Potomac  and  N.  Clare- 
mont  Avenues;  Waller,  Orchard  ^  and  Center  Streets;  Washington,  Mor- 
gan Street  and  Grand  J  venue. 

BOOKKEEPING. — In  the  elementary  department  a  simple  but 
thorough  course  is  given.  In  the  high  school  department  a  more 
advanced  course  is  given,  including  the  handling  of  a  complete  set  of 
books  of  entry  and  business  forms  of  all  kinds,  and  the  carrying  on  of 
actual  transactions  in  various  departments  of  business. 

Bowen,  89th  Street  and  Manistee  Avenue;  Burley,  Barry  Avenue  near 
Ashland  Avenue;  Burns,  25th  Street  and  Wabansia  Avenue;  Burr,  Ash- 
land and  IVabansia  Avenues;  Crane,  Oakley  Avenue  and  Vanburen  Street; 
Englewood^  62d  Street  and  Steiuart  Avenue;  Foster,  Union  and  O'Brien 
Streets;  Garfield,  Johnson  Street  and  14th  Place;  Goethe,  Rockwell  Street 
betiveen  Fullcrton  and  Mihvaukee  Avenues;  Hamline,  iSth  and  Bishop 
Streets;  Hammond,  21st  Place  near  California  Avenue;  Harrison,  23d  Place 
near  Wentworth  Avenue;  Jackson,  Sholto  and  Better  Streets;  Lake,  47th 
Place  and  Union  Avenue;  Lane,  Division  and  Sedgivick  Streets;  McAllister, 
36th  and  Gage  Streets;  Medill,  14th  Place  near  Throop  Street;  Phillips, 
39th  Street  and  Prairie  Avenue;  Pullman,  Morse  Avenue  and  113th  Street; 
Scammon,  Morgan  and  Monroe  Streets;  Tuley,  Potomac  and  N.  Claremont 
Avenues;  Waller,  Orchard  and  Center  Streets;  Washington,  Morgan  Street 
and  Grand  Avenue. 

LEWIS  INSTITUTE   EVENING   CLASSES 

Sew^ing  and  millinery. — Cutting  and  making  plain  garments,  shirt- 
waists, thin  gowns  and  dressing  jackets  ;  practical  millinery. 

Co„,-^^._Three  terms,  Tuesday  and  Thursday,  7:00  to  9:00. 
Tuition. — Term  of  ten  weeks,  $5. 

TRADE  CLASSES  IN  SETTLEMENTS 

Chicago  Commons 

Shirt-waist  class.    Tuesday  evening,  7 :30. 

Eli  Bates  House 

Sewing;  practical  work.    Three  evenings  a  week. 

Emerson  House 

Trade  dressmaking.     One  evening  a  week. 

Henry  Booth  House 

Sewing;  practical.    Thursday  afternoons.    Girls  eight  to  fourteen. 
Embroidery  class. 

Hull-House 

Dressmaking  for  beginners.  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday, 
Thursday,  Friday,  7 :30  P.  M.  Wednesday,  2  :30  to  4 :30  P.  M. 
$1  ten  lessons. 

Graded  dressmaking,  shop: 

Beginning  classes.    Monday,  1 :30  to  4  and  7  to  9  P.  M. 

Intermediate  classes.    Thursday,  1 :30  to  4  and  7  to  9  P.  M. 

Advanced  classes.    Friday,  1 :30  to  4  and  7  to  9  P.  M. 

$2  ten  lessons. 
Plain  sewing,  shop.    Wednesday,  1 :30  to  4  and  7  to  9  P.  M. 
Millinery.    Thursday,  7  :30  P.  M. 


52  LIST   OF   TRADE   CLASSES 

Neighborhood  House 

Sewing  and  dressmaking.  Saturday,  9:30  to  11:30  A.  M.  Girls 
nine  to  sixteen.  This  class  gives  practical  training  in  hand 
sewing  only.  Each  girl  is  required  to  make  a  dress  entirely 
by  hand  before  she  receives  a  diploma.  After  four  or  five 
years'  training  girls  are  prepared  to  enter  dressmaking 
establishments  and  high-grade  tailor-shops. 

Northwestern  Settlement 

Sewing.       Wednesday,  7  :30  P.  M.     Girls  over  fourteen. 
Dressmaking.     Monday  and  Wednesday,  7  :30  P.  M. 
Millinery.    Monday,  7:30  P.  M. 

University  of  Chicago  Settlement 

Dressmaking.     Monday  afternoon. 
Shirt-waist  making.     Monday  afternoon. 
Weaving  and  basketr3^     Monday  afternoon. 
Millinery.    Thursday. 

Other  settlements  have  numerous  classes  in  sewing  but  they  cannot 
be  called  trade  classes. 

DRESSMAKING   SCHOOLS 

Fashion  School  of  Dressmaking,  4715  Lake  Avenue. 

A  general  course  in  cutting,  fitting  and  sewing;  training  girls  for 
tailor  shops.  Classes  meet  three  days  a  week  from  9  A.  M. 
to  1  P.  M.  Tuition  $1  for  a  four-hour  lesson;  20  lessons  in  a 
course. 

Valentine  Dresscutting  School,  116  N.  State  Street. 

Instruction  given  in  designing,  cutting  and  sewing.  Tuition,  22 
lessons,  $8. 

McDowell's  Dressmaking  School,  209  S.  State  Street. 

Course  oiTered  in  dresscutting,  dressmaking  and  ladies  tailoring. 
Tuition,  $20. 

The  School  of  Domestic  Arts  and  Science,  177  N.  State  Street. 

Courses  offered  in  plain  sewing  and  dressmaking  for  home  use, 
including  draughting,  cutting  and  fitting,  making  fancy  waists 
and  dresses.    Terms  of  20  lessons,  $7.50  and  upward. 

MILLINERY  SCHOOLS 

The  School  of  Domestic  Arts  and  Science,  177  N.  State  Street. 

Courses  in  home  and  trade  millinery.    Terms  of  20  lessons,  $12. 

Madam  Hunt's  Millinery  School,  159  N.  State  Street. 

Practical  course  in  millinery.  Term  six  to  eight  weeks.  Tuition  $25. 

Patterson  School  of  Millinery  Design,  81  E.  Madison  Street. 

Technical  courses  in  designing,  making  and  trimming  hats. 
Tuition,  ten  weeks'  course,  $40;  eight  weeks'  course,  $25. 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  RELATING  TO 
EMPLOYMENT  SUPERVISION 

Wherever  an  asterisk  is  placed  before  the  title,   the  reference  may  be  found  in  the   Library 
of  the   Chicago   School   of   Civics;    where   a   call  number   is   given,   the   reference   may   be   found 

in    th*^    Tnhn     Crerar    T.ihrnrv 


in  the  John   Crerar   Library. 


BOOKS  AND  PAMPHLETS 

*American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  Philadelphia.  Industrial 
education.  Philadelphia,  1909.  224  p.  (Annals  of  the  American  Academy, 
33,  No.  1.)  $1.     Crerar  306.103  1  v.  33 

*Blocmfield,  Meyer.  The  vocational  guidance  of  youth.  Bost.:  Houghton,  Mif- 
flin, 1911.    vii.  123  p.     (Riverside  educational  monographs.)    60c. 

Bibliography:   p.    117-120. 

*Bray,  Reginald  A.  Boy  labour  and  apprenticeship.  Lond.:  Constable,  1911. 
xi.  244  p.     5s. 

List   of  authorities:    p.    241-244. 

Davenport,  Eugene.  Education  for  efficiency.  Host.:  Heath,  1909.  184  p.  $1. 
Crercr  371.42  Q  901 

*Davies,  Maud  F.  School  care  committees;  a  guide  to  their  work.  Lond.:  T. 
Burleigh.  1909.     94  p.    6d.     Crerar  362.76  Q  901 

*Frere,  Margaret.  Children's  care  committees;  how  to  work  them  in  elementary 
schools.     Lond.:  P.  S.  King,  1909.    86  p.     Is.     Crerar  362.76  O  900 

Gillete,  John  M.  Vocational  education.  N.  Y. :  American  Book  Company, 
1910.     viii.  303  p.     $1.     Crerar  373  R  00! 

Gordon,  Mrs.  Ogilvie.  Handbook  of  employments;  specially  prepared  for  the 
use  of  boys  and  girls  on  entering  the  trades,  industries  and  professions. 
Aberdeen:  Rosemount  Press,  1908.    444  p.    Is.     Crerar  609. .',2  Q  SOO 

*Greenwood,  Arthur.     Juvenile  labour  exchange  and  after-care.     Lond.:  P.  S. 
King,  1911.     xi.  112  p.     Is. 
Bibliography:   p.   101-112. 

Hanus,  Paul  H.  Beginnings  in  industrial  education.  Bost.:  Houghton,  Mifflin, 
1908.     199  p.     $1.     Crerar  370.4  H  192 

*Keeling,  Frederic.     The  labour  exchange  in  relation  to  boy  and  girl  labour. 
Lond.:   P.  S.  King,   1910.     76  p.     6d.     Crerar  331.3  R  001 
Bibliography:  p.   73-76. 

*Kerschensteiner,  Georg.  Three  lectures  on  vocational  training.  Chicago: 
Commercial  Club  of  Chicago,  1911.     52  p. 

^Knowles,  G.  W.  Junior  labour  exchanges:  plea  for  closer  co-operation  be- 
tween labour  exchanges  and  education  authorities.  Lond.:  Sherratt, 
1910.    32  p.    6d. 

Parsons,  Frank.  Choosing  a  vocation.  Bost.:  Houghton,  Mifflin,  1909.  165  p. 
$1.     Crerar  374  P  ^5 

Sadler,  M.  E.  Continuation  schools  in  England  and  elsewhere;  their  place  in 
educational  system  of  industrial  and  commercial  state.  Ed.  2.  Lond.: 
Sherratt,  1908.    779  p.    8s.  6d.    Crerar  379.175  Q  800 

53 


54  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

*Snedden,  David.  The  problem  of  vocational  education.  Bost. :  Houghton, 
Mifflin,  1910.     vii.  85  p.     (Riverside  educational  monographs.)     3Sc. 

*Woolman,  Mrs,  Mary  Schenck.  The  making  of  a  trade  school.  (The  Man- 
hattan trade  school  for  girls.)  Bost.:  Whitcomb  &  Barrows,  1910.  101  p. 
50c.     Crerar  607  Q  900 


ARTICLES 


*Adler,  Nettie.  Trade  schools  for  girls.  Women's  Industrial  News  (new 
series)  No.  53  :  31-39.     January,  1911. 

Chamberlain  N.  Labour  exchange  and  boy  labour.  Economic  Review  19  :  400- 
409.     October,  1909.     Crerar  330.52  E  19  v.  19 

*Flexner,  Mary.  Plea  for  vocational  training.  Survey  22  :  650-55.  August  7, 
1909.     Crerar  L  360.51  S  96  v.  22 

^Gibbon,  I.  G.  Skilled  employment  and  apprenticeship  committees  in  England. 
Progress,  Civic,  Social.  Industrial.  3  :  165-175.  July,  1908.  Crerar  305.2 
P  94  v.  3 

^Greenwood,  A.  The  organization  of  the  juvenile  labour  market.  Progress, 
Civic,  Social,   Industrial  6:97-105.     April,   1911.     Crerar  305.2  P  9ff  'v.  6 

*Harvey,  L.  D.  Need,  scope,  and  character  of  industrial  education  in  the  public- 
school  system.  National  Education  Association,  Proceedings,  1909,  p. 
49-70.     Crerar  310.6161  2  1909 

Jevons,  H.  W.  Industrial  prospects  for  boys  and  girls.  Charity  Organization 
Review  (new  series)  20  :  125-139.  September,  1906.  Crerar  360.52  1 
N.  S.  <v.  20 

Longman,  Mary.  Children's  care  committees.  Contemporary  Review  98:733-42. 
December,  1910.     Crerar  L  052  C  16  i:  98 

Mundella,  A.  J.  Labour  exchanges  and  education.  School  Government  Chroni- 
cle, December  3  and  10,  1910. 

Parsons,  J.  Skilled  employment  committees.  Charity  Organization  Review 
(new  series)  22:19-40.     July,  1907.     Crerar  360.52  1  N.  S.  v.  22 

*Tawney,  R.  H.  Blind-alley  occupations.  Women's  Industrial  News  (new 
series)    No.  52:1-10.     October,   1910. 

Tawney,  R.  H.  Economics  of  boy  labour.  Economic  Journal  19:517-537. 
December,  1909.     Crerar  L  330.52  E  11  v.  19 


OFFICIAL  DOCUMENTS,  REPORTS,  ETC. 

*Birmingham.  Education  Committee.  Report  of  the  special  sub-committee  on 
the  institution  of  a  juvenile  employment  bureau  and  care  committee  in 
Birmingham.  Adopted  by  the  Education  Committee,  December  16,  1910. 
Birmingham:  Percival  Jones,  1910.     36  p. 

♦Edinburgh  School  Board.  Co-operation  between  the  educational  information 
and  employment  bureau  and  the  labour  exchange.     4  p. 

Edinburgh  School  Board.  Scheme  for  the  establishment  of  an  educational  in- 
formation and  emploj'ment  bureau.  (Adopted  by  the  Board,  July  20th, 
1908.) 

*Great  Britain.  Board  of  Education.  Report  of  the  consultative  committee  on 
attendance,  compulsory  or  otherwise,  at  continuation  schools.  Lond. : 
Wyman,  1909.  2  vols.  (Cd.  4757-8.)  Is.  6d.  each.  Crerar  L  354.1,2  2 
Cd.  4151-8  1909 


I    I  «  *   • 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  SS 

Great  Britain.  General  Post-Office.  First  report  of  Standing  Committee  on 
boy  labour  in  the  post-office.  Lond.:  Wyman,  1911.  18  p.  (Cd.  5504)  3d 
Crerar  L  S5J,.J,2  2  Cd.  550 J,  1910  ' 

* .      Royal    Commission    on    the    Poor    Laws    and    Relief    of    Distress 

Report.  Lond.:  Wyman,  1909,  1238  p.  (Cd.  4499)  5s.  6d.    Crerar  L  35/,. i2  2 
Cd.  U99  1909 

See  p.   325-326,    Boy   labour;   p.    1166-67    (Minority   Report),   Misuse   of  boy   labour. 


* .    Appendix  vol.  20.     Report  by  Mr.  Cyril  Jackson  on  boy  labour 

together  with  a  memorandum  from  the  General  Post-Office  on  the  con- 
ditions of  employment  of  telegraph  messengers.  Lond.:  Wyman,  1909 
230  p.     (Cd.  4632.)     9d.     Crerar  L  35Jt.J,2  2  Cd.  J,632  1909 

*London    County    Council.      Education    Committee.      After-care    and    juvenile 
employment.     Lond.:  P.  S.  King,  1911.     7  p.     (No.  5443.) 


.     Handbook  containing  general   information   with   reference  to 

the   work  in   connection   with   the   Children's   Care    (Central)    Sub-com- 
mittee.    Lond.:  P.  S.  King,  1910.    80  p.     (No.  1332.)     6d. 


.  Report  by  education  officers  submitting  a  report  by  Miss  Dur- 
ham on  juvenile  labour  in  Germany  and  how  it  is  being  dealt  with.  Lond.: 
P.  S.  King,  1910.     14  p.     (No.  1358.)     3d. 


* .  Women's  trades.  Report  of  the  Education  Committee  sub- 
mitting report  by  the  chief  inspector  presenting  reports  on  women's  trades 
compiled  by  the  late  inspector  of  women's  technical  classes  (Mrs.  G.  M. 
Oakeshott).  Lond.:  Southwood,  Smith,  1908.  41  p.  (No.  1142.)  lid. 
Crerar  L  331.1,  Q  801 

^Massachusetts.  Commission  on  Industrial  and  Technical  Education.  Report. 
Bost.:  Wright  &  Potter,  1906.    196  p.     Crerar  607  Q  603 

*— — .      Commission    on    Industrial    Education.      Report.      Bost.:    Wright    & 

Potter,   1907.     71  p.     (Public  doc,   No.  76.)    Crerar  601  Q  701 

A  report  on  the  organization  and  methods  of  the  several  textile 


schools  in  the  commonwealth.     Bost.:  1908.    106  p.  (House  No.  1320.) 

*United  Ctstes.  Bureau  of  Education.  Bulletin,  whole  No.  389.  The  appren- 
ticeship system  in  its  relation  to  industrial  education;  by  Carroll  D. 
Wright.  Wash.,  D.  C:  Government  Printing  Office,  1908.  116  p. 
Crerar  370.51  1,2  1908 


—  .  Report,  1910,  vol.  1,  p.  301-343.  Prussian  system  of  voca- 
tional schools  from  1884  to  19()9.  Wash.,  D.  C:  Government  Printing 
Office,    1910.      Crerar  L  370.973  NOOl  1910  v.  1 


— .  Bureau  of  Labor.  Investigation  of  telephone  companies.  Wash.,  D.  C. : 
Government  Printing  Office,  1910.  340  p.  (S.  doc.  380,  61st  Cong.,  2d 
sess.)     Crerar  654.6  R  001 


—  .      Report    on  condition    of    woman    and    child    wage-earners 

in    the    United    States,  in    19    volumes.      Wash.,    D.    C. :     Government 

Printing  Office,  1910.  (S.  doc.  645,  61st  Cong.,  2d.  sess.)  Crerar 
331.0973  R  001 

Contents:  v.  1,  Cotton  textile  industry,  1044  p.,  75c;  v.  2,  Men's  ready-made  clothing,  873 
p.,  75c;  V.  3,  Glass  industry,  970  p.,"  75c;  v.  4,  Silk  industry,  592  p.,  45c;  v.  5,  Wage- 
earning  women  in  stores  and  factories,  384  p.,  30  c ;  v.  6,  Beginnings  of  child  labor 
legislation  in  certain  States,  comparative  study,  by  Elizabeth  L.  Otey,  225  p.,  20c; 
V.  7,  Conditions  under  which  children  leave  school  to  go  to  work,  309  p.,  25c ;  v.  8, 
Juvenile  delinquency  and  its  relation  to  employment,  77  p.,  15c;  v.  11,  Employment  of 
women  in  metal  trades,  by   L.  W.   Chaney.     107  p.,   10c. 

.    Twenty-fifth  annual  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1910. 

Industrial  Education  in  the  United  States.  Wash.,  D.  C. :  Government 
Printing  Office,  1911.    822  p. 

Bibliography:  p.  521-539. 


56  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

REPORTS    OF   VOLUNTARY    ORGANIZATIONS,    ETC. 

"•'Apprenticeship  and  Skilled  Employment  Association,  London.  Annual  re- 
ports.    No.  1,  1906-7.     Lend.,  1907  to  date.     Crerar  360.620/f  1  1908 

.     Suggestions   to   committees   newly  starting.   Lond.,   1908.   7  p.      Crerar 

Pam.  331.86 

* .    Trades  for  London  boys  and  how  to  enter  them.      Lond.:  Longmans, 

Green,   1908.     170  p.     9d.     Crerar  607.2  Q  800 

* ,    Trades  for  London  girls  and  how  to  enter  them.     Lond.:  Longmans, 

Green,  1909.     xxi.     145  p.     9d.     Crerar  331. Jt  Q  902 

The  work  of  an  apprenticeship  committee;  by  M.  K.  Bradby.     Lond., 


1909.     7  p.     Crerar  Pam.  331.86 

*Lads'  Employment  Committee.  London.  Annual  Reports.  No.  1,  1907. 
Lond..  1907  to  date. 

^National  Education  Association  of  the  United  States.  Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  place  of  industries  in  public  education  to  the  National 
Council  of  Education.  July,   1910.     iv.   123  p.     Crerar  375.6  R  001 

^National  Society  for  the  Prom.oticn  of  Industrial  Education,  Office  of  the 
Secretary,  20  West  44th  St.,  New  York  City.  Bulletins,  No.  1-14,  1907  to 
1911.     Crerar  607.06161  1  'V.  1-U 

Conlents  :  No.  1,  Proceedings  of  the  organization  meetings;  2,  Sclecled  bililiography  on 
industrial  education,  prepared  Ly  C.  R.  Richards ;  3,  A  symposium  on  industrial  educa- 
tion, collated  by  J.  P.  ITaney ;  4,  Industrial  training  for  women,  by  Florence  M.  Mar- 
shall ;  5-6,  Proceedings  of  1st  annual  meeting,  Chicago;  7,  Circular  of  inforrnation,  con- 
stitution, state  branches,  officers  and  members ;  7,  Education  of  workers  in  the  shoe 
industry,  by  A.  D.  Dean;  9,  Proceedings,  2d  annua!  meeting,  Atlanta;  10,  Proceedings, 
3d  annual  meeting,  Milwaukee,  Wis.;  11,  A  descriptive  list  of  trade  and  industrial 
schools  in  the  United  Slates,  prepared  by  E.  II.  Reisner;  12,  Legislation  upon  indus- 
trial education  in  the  United  States,  prepared  by  E.  C.  Elliott  and  C.  A.  Prosser ;  13, 
Proceedings  4th  annual  meeting,  Boston:  pt.  I,  Trade  education  for  girls;  pt.  II,  Ap- 
prenticeship and  corporation  schools;  pt.  Ill,  Part  time  and  evening  schools;  pt.  IV, 
The  social  significance  of  industrial  education ;  14,  The  trade  continuation  schools  of 
Munich,   by   Georg   Kerschensteiner. 

♦Vocation  Bureau  of  Boston.  Vocations  for  Boston  boys.  Bulletins,  No.  1-8. 
Bost.:  Vocation  Bureau,  1911.    10c  each. 

♦Vocation  Office  for  Girls.  Vocations  for  Boston  Girls.  Bulletins,  No.  1-10. 
Bost.:  Girls'  Trade  Education  League,  1911.     10c  each. 

♦Women's  Industrial  Council,  London.  Boy  and  girl  labour;  by  Nettie  Adler 
and  R.  H.  Tawney.     Lond.,  1909.    17  p.     Id.     Crerar  Pam.  331.86 

.      Report    of    the    conference    on    industrial    training    for    girls.      Lond.: 

Women's  Industrial  Council.     6d. 

.    Technical  education  for  women  and  girls  at  home  and  abroad.     Lond., 

1905.     64  p.     Crerar  396.5  Q  501 


DAY    AND     TO     «ir.«^^®°N  THE  FOURTH 
OVERDUE.  *'°°    °'^    THE    SEVENTH     dIy 


